Lily
by Ariana and Clara
Summary: WARNING: This fic discontinued after 72 chapters of bliss. Ex-reviewers, read chapter 73 for a brief explanation, and please refrain from tearing us limb from limb. Not pleasant. As for new readers, hey, nothing wrong with a little unfinished business!
1. An Unfinished Journey

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001  
  
  
  
  


_Disclaimer: We own Cecilia Evans, Perry Mifflebey and his mother, Chantel Merceles, Chrissy and Nicky Johnson. And of course, anything else you see that isn't featured in the Harry Potter series. _

  
  
  
  
**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 1**  
  
  
**_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Prologue~*~*~*~*~*~*~

_Mrs. Cecilia Evans walked down the familiar street cheerily, the red maternity dress not hiding the bulge in her stomach. Even the faintest of acquaintances stopped to congratulate her and to tell her that she looked wonderful, even though she really didn't. It was an experience that could go to any woman's head, but not Cecilia's. She just smiled and thanked them, reminding her four-year-old daughter, Petunia, to do so as well. It was odd, though, that she had gone down this street so many times before, but she now was seeing shops in places that had formerly been simply alleyways. But then, she hadn't gone shopping here since she found out that she was pregnant, and a lot could happen in seven months.   
  
"Petunia, dear? How would you like to go into that candy shop over there?"   
  
"What candy shop, mum?"   
  
"Why, the one with 'Rimpkin's Candy' over the door in silver letters."   
  
"I don't see any Rimpkin's Candy. Do you feel all right, mum?" Petunia asked concernedly.   
  
Cecilia stared hard at the shop then touched her hand to her head as though she had a headache. "I'm fine." She mumbled, then kept on walking. This was sincerely odd. She then passed a shop that she was certain had not been there before. "Allen's Broomsticks for All Occasions?" she read aloud. "What in the world...?"   
  
Petunia looked up at her mother with wide eyes and slid her hand out of her grasp, placing her arms akimbo. "What do you mean? That's just a little space between the grocery and the book shop!"   
  
She drew her breath in sharply and bent down as far as she could to pick up Petunia's hand again. "Never mind. Come along."   
  
The phenomena didn't cease, but most of the new stores looked fairly orthodox, and Cecilia was careful not to ask Petunia whether she could see any more of them. After coming in and out of several of the old shops, she spotted a new one at the very end of the street. "Ah! Perfect!" She said, starting across the road to it. 'Mifflebey's Gifts for All Occasions,' read the pale yellow sign above the door. It looked to be radiating sunshine. "Let's go in there so you can pick out a gift for your new baby sister. Or brother," she added, not knowing why she had said 'sister' with such conviction.   
  
"But mum..." Then Petunia fell into a definite and almost fearful silence. Due to the small jolt of surprise she gave when they walked through the door of Mifflebey's, Petunia had had no idea of its existence until then.   
  
Everything inside Mifflebey's was the same pale yellow color of the sign, which explained its soft glow. A porcelain bell rang as Mrs. Evans stepped into the shop, immediately falling in love with it. It was a curiously quaint little place without even an electric lamp, just several unlit candles. The sunlight streamed in through the several arched windows, compounding the yellow theme, and instead of a cash register, there was just a pad of paper, a quill, and a long stick of wood that Cecilia imagined was a giant, unsharpened pencil. But the old-fashioned air wasn't what made her fall in love with it. It was the aura of mystery, of magic, of something not quite within her comprehension...yet.   
  
"May I help...you?" A thin, tawny-haired woman with bright hazel eyes appeared behind the counter. When she glanced over Cecilia and Petunia, the welcoming smile faded from her face and the brightness was replaced with a fog of confusion. Then, as though the woman had come to some explanation to her question, the smile returned and the fog lifted.   
  
"Go ahead, Petty," Cecilia whispered to the wide-eyed little girl clinging to her hand.   
  
Petunia said in an impossibly quiet voice, "I'd l-like to b-buy a gift for my b-baby s-s-sister or b-brother."   
  
The woman looked quizzically over the counter at Cecilia. She looked down at Petunia. "Why are you so afraid?"   
  
Petunia looked like she was going to cry. "I didn't see this store until we walked into it, mummy! It just wasn't here and I don't know what's going on, but I want to go hooome!" She started wailing into her mother's skirt.   
  
"Oh, dear..." The woman behind the counter pursed her lips and looked as though she was trying to find the right way to phrase her next words. "I can't say as this has ever happened before."   
  
"What? What's going on here?" Cecilia demanded, sounding far braver than she actually felt. "Your daughter couldn't see this shop?"   
  
"Isn't that obvious?"   
  
"Well, I think we had better have a talk in the back." She strode over to the door, turned the sign to 'closed,' and beckoned for Cecilia to follow her. When they went into a little annex, the woman turned her back and did something, then produced two cups of tea. "Mrs..."  
  
"Evans."   
  
"Mrs. Evans, I think that you ought to know something...Perry!" She pushed back her chair and exclaimed in surprise. A brown-haired, two-year-old boy ran out from under the table. His mischievous hazel eyes and broad smile marked him as the woman's son. He was carrying one of his mother's shoes. "Perry, it's not nice to steal people's shoes! Now, come on. Hand it back."   
  
Perry shook his head, grinning widely. He wrinkled his freckled button nose in a laugh at his mother's futile attempts to get the shoe back.   
  
"Perry, mummy can't play right now, all right?" She said through gritted teeth. "Be a good boy and give me the shoe." Still, he persisted. "We can't play Accio Shoe now! I'm with a customer!" Her desperate tone got through to Perry, either that, or he was bored with the game. He dropped the shoe and ran back out. "I'm sorry about that."  
  
"Perfectly all right, but you still haven't explained all this."   
  
"Mrs. Evans, as you were walking down this street, did you notice that there were some stores there that weren't there before?"   
  
"Yes, but I haven't been here for seven months."   
  
"Exactly. That child-" the woman pointed at Cecilia's stomach. "-must be magical."   
  
"What do you mean, 'magical?'"   
  
"I mean that there is an entire other world going on. A world of witches and wizards and all sorts of impossibilities, that people like you are completely excluded from. Sometimes, two Muggles - people who aren't part of that world - have a child who IS magical and IS part of this world. So, now that you have magic blood in you in the form of that baby, you can see these shops and your daughter can't. Do you understand?"   
  
Petunia set her jaw defiantly. "I don't believe you! That's stupid because witches and wizards aren't real, so ha ha!" She stuck her little pink tongue out.   
  
"Petty! That isn't nice at all!" Cecilia stroked her daughter's long blonde hair distractedly, turning again to the storekeeper. "You absolutely can't be serious."   
  
"I'm quite serious, I assure you. There wasn't a drop of untruth in what I just told you."   
  
Cecilia shook her head. "No. No, that just can't be. And I don't appreciate you talking such nonsense in front of Petunia! She's only a little girl, and you never know what she's going to believe!" She stood up and cast the woman a toxic glare with her piercing green eyes. "You can be sure that you won't be getting any more business from me or my family. Come along, Petunia."   
  
The storekeeper knew she had to act fast. If she fired the memory charm now, it could hurt Mrs. Evans or Petunia. She leapt up and forced them both back into their chairs. "Obliviate! Obliviate!" Immediately, they both took on the stunned appearance of those who had just had their memories modified. "All right. Both of you saw this shop, and you'll just go home after this without taking any notice of the new stores along the road. I told you nothing about the magical community. You know nothing."   
  
When Cecilia came to her senses, she felt a little groggy and wondered why she was there. She remembered a light yellow shop, and a friendly storekeeper, but why was she in this room? Then, the storekeeper came back in, holding a light yellow, egg-shaped object. "What do you know, Mrs. Evans, we do have a music box left. Just the kind you wanted, too. And look," she opened up the lid and took out the delicate glass skater. "She even has little emeralds in her eyes, just like you. I'll bet that baby's going to be just the same way."   
  
"Er...thank you. Petunia? What do you think of it?"   
  
  
  
  
  
  
_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~End of Prologue~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Something more than eleven years later...

A girl sat in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, all alone. Every so often, she would tuck a stray lock of her bright red hair behind one ear, glance out the window at the countryside speeding past, then bring her quick green eyes back to The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1, skipping the boring parts and dwelling on illustrations.   
  
This girl, as you may already have guessed, was Lily Evans, an important witch, to be sure.   
  
Lily closed the book and looked back to the ever-changing view outside her compartment window. A flock of small brown birds flew out of a wheat field, the marshes and bogs zipped by with only the slightest fume, and once, Lily even fancied that she saw a gigantic purple bus go by and honk its horn, but she quickly abandoned this as a product of the strange candy she had bought and eaten from the trolley only a few minutes before.   
  
  


Buses can't go as fast as steam engines – and for that matter, normal buses aren't purple. Then again, she reminded herself, 'normal' was an entirely different proposition now. 'Normal' owls don't deliver life-changing letters, or any letters. 'Normal' platform dividers don't dissolve when you run through them. You don't need to tap a special combination of bricks to get into a 'normal' alley. And, of course, 'normal' people can't make their sister's ice cream explode in her face when they're angry.   
  
  


Lily was shaken from her thoughts when the compartment door slid open, revealing two girls about her age. They fell into the seats across from her, giggling madly.   
  
  


"Did you see the looks on their faces?" screeched one of the girls. She actually reminded Lily of her friend Mary Partridge from Muggle school, willowy with golden-brown hair that matched her complexion perfectly, and eyes that rivaled Lily's for depth and sparkle, except that they were the color of the sea on a clear day.   
  
  


The other girl jumped up, checked the hallway to make sure nobody was there, and then resumed giggling. "Oh, my God. That was probably the funniest thing we've ever done." She was probably as much the physical opposite of her friend that she could possibly have been, with a darker sort of skin tone, grass-green eyes, and black hair pulled into a braided knot behind her head.   
"What was the funniest thing you've ever done?"   
  
  


The two girls looked at Lily suddenly, as though they had just seen her. "Oh…nothing. Just flirting…"   
  
  


"With cute fourth-years…"   
  
  


"Using some basic Enchanting Enchantments on them…"   
  
  


"Hoarding their candy, since we're flat broke…"   
  
  


"Then hitting 'em with the counter-spell and running for our lives!"   
  
  


"So we sort of need to hide in here for a bit…that all right with you?"   
  
"Er…sure." Lily felt a little bewildered after that rapid-fire explanation.   
  
"Great! My name's Chrissy Johnson. Boring, isn't it?" the brown-haired girl said. "It's actually Christina, but that's even worse."   
  
  


"I don't think it's bor-"   
  
  


"And I'm Chantel," the dark-haired girl interrupted. "Chantel Merceles. Makes me sound like I'm ruddy royalty next to her name, doesn't it?"   
  
"They're both nice," Lily said, fidgeting with her robes, to which she was quite unaccustomed. "I'm Lily Evans. Do either of you know anything about Hogwarts?"   
  
"Muggle-born, are you? I'm a quarter Muggle, anyway. Well, we've got to get Sorted first, of course," Chantel informed her. "Chris, you've got a big brother – did he ever tell you how they Sort new students?"   
  
"'Course. He always said it's painful, like the whole trial-by-fire kind of thing. Load of rubbish – he just wanted to frighten me."   
  
"Well, whatever it is we've got to do, I want to be sorted into Gryffindor."   
  
  


"Ohh, please don't! I'd positively perish if we got in separate Houses, and you know I'm a bloody coward!" Chrissy said, hugging Chantel. "How 'bout you, Lily?"   
  
  


Lily had grown quieter and quieter as their conversation continued. "I don't even know what you're talking about." she admitted, feeling terribly left out.   
  
"Ok. There are four houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and, unfortunately for everyone else, Slytherin. You get Sorted as soon as you arrive, and you basically have all your classes with other people in your House, and you share a common room, and each House's got a Quidditch team, and all that." Chantel informed Lily.   
  
"The Houses all have some kind of personality. You know, like most Gryffindors are really brave, most Ravenclaws are really smart, Hufflepuffs are loyal – that's where my brother Nick was, but he graduated two years back – and Slytherins are…well, basically filth." Chrissy said.   
  
Lily was still slightly confused. "I guess I'd be fine with anything except Slytherin."   
  
  


"You," Chantel said approvingly, "Are a very smart girl."   
  
  


"So where are you from, Lily?"   
  
  


Lily looked out the window as the light of sunset dimmed away. "Surrey. Pretty far away…and I've never even been to sleep-away camp." For a second, she had to push back tears of homesickness that had been threatening to seep out since she said good-bye to her parents on the platform.   
  
  


Chantel made a sympathetic tsking sound. "Me neither, but I've kind of got a…a messed-up family. Y'see…" she trailed off, and then fell silent.   
  
  


It was Chrissy's turn to feel uncomfortable and out-of-place. "Er… s'pose I'm lucky. Nicky's working right nearby in Hogsmeade – he's actually going to meet me when the train stops. Be a nice break for him after cleaning up owl dung all day, I think, since he's doing an internship at the post office."   
  
  


This lightened the mood a good deal, and they managed to keep the good feeling going through the hours that seemed like seconds until they pulled into Hogwarts Station.   
  
The three new friends emerged into the hustle and bustle of Hogsmeade station. Black-robed students swarmed like gnats all around, some pulling on their robes over normal Muggle clothes even as they looked around for directions where to go. But in the midst of it all, near the entrance to the station, Lily saw a tall, lanky boy talking to the conductor. He couldn't have been more than nineteen, with blonde hair, Chrissy's eyes (though they did look a bit more impressive in his face), and a few splotches of what Lily judged to be owl poop on his shirt. "Chrissy, is that your brother?"   
  
  


Chrissy turned in the direction that Lily was pointing before a giant smile split her face and she shrieked, "NICKY!!!", trampling several students as she leaped into her brother's arms. 

Lily and Chantel followed just in time to see her pull away, punch him on the shoulder, and begin a thorough chastisement. "And why exactly haven't you written home in months?"   
  
  


"Ah, c'mon, Chris, the boss keeps me working dawn to dusk, when am I supposed to send a letter?"   
  
  


"You work in a post office!" Chrissy exclaimed.   
  
  


Nick bowed. "Guilty as charged. I'll get out of there someday, you can take my word for it. Hi there, Chantel, is it? Right, you're the little chubby one who was always coming over to play with Chrissy when I was on holiday from school. Now you-" he turned to Lily. "You I'm sure I don't know."   
  
  


"Just met her on the train. Her name's Lily…er…Lily something."   
  
  


"Hullo there, Lily Something," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "Curious sort of last name, that. What nationality is it?"   
  
  


Lily was about to answer with her real last name when someone ran into her from behind. She caught herself just short of smashing into the cobblestones, but it appeared when she stood back up that the boy who had hit her wasn't quite so lucky. He was sitting back on his heels, clutching his mouth, his frightened brown eyes flickering. "Are you all right?" Lily said, offering him a hand.   
  
  


He nodded and mumbled something, standing up with his lips shut tightly. His expression was drawn and pale, as though he was in some kind of pain that he had to hide. 

"Something wrong with your teeth?" Chantel said, a little bit caustically.   
  
  


Glancing up at the overcast sky, then over to the horizon (where a sliver of the full moon was barely evident) he shook his head no and scrambled out of the station, through Hogsmeade, and up a hill to a tumbledown old house. "Must be insane or something," Nicky muttered. "Nobody ever goes in the Shrieking Shack. For as long as I can remember…"   
  
  


"You've only been working here a year," Chrissy reminded him.   
  
  


"As long as I can remember," he drove on, "It's been haunted."   
  
  


"Haunted?" Chrissy said, blanching.   
  
  


"Yeah, ghosts," said Nicky with relish. "They scream and yell and crash furniture all the time…and every so often, they like to pick up a nice juicy first year for an afternoon snack-"   
  
  


Chantel shivered. "Stop it!"   
  
  


"And they like the ones with red hair, too," he said, whirling on Lily. "Rumor has it that a few years back, there was a big strong Quidditch captain with red hair who-"   
  
  


Chantel suddenly gasped and jumped onto the ground, dragging Chrissy down with her. Nick and Lily looked bemusedly at one another, then to the pair on their hands and knees. "Uhh…want to fill us in there, Chris?"   
  
  


"DON'T say my name!" she hissed. "Those fourth years Chantel and I were flirting with are about ten feet away!" 

And indeed, there were three fourth year boys, all quite good-looking, conversing with murderous looks on their faces, and Lily thought she caught the phrase 'candy-stealing hussies' applied liberally.   
  
  


"All right, here's what we do," Chantel said in a low tone. "You and me crawl away 'til we're out of sight. Lily, you and Nick follow us, but don't stare at us because that'll give it away. On the count of three. One…two…"   
  
  


"Hey, you three! Right, you fourth years! I believe I know the whereabouts of someone – or sometwo – with whom you wish to speak!" Nicky called loudly in an overly polite affect. He stepped on the hem of Chrissy's robes. 

"Something about candy, I believe?"   
  
  


"Nick! Let me go! They'll kill me!"   
  
  


"My job to look after the family name, isn't it? And such conduct will most certainly not go unpunished!" He was still playing the ever-exasperating high-and-mighty big brother.   
  
  


Chantel sprang up, kicked Nick in the shins, and pulled Chrissy and Lily along as she bolted away from the pursuant fourth year boys. The gap was closing quickly when Lily heard a cannon-like voice shouting, "Firs' years! Firs' years this way!" They were apparently running in the right direction, because the voice was getting ever closer. "No more'n four ter a boat! Firs' years this – oomph!"   
  
  


Chrissy, Lily, and Chantel had all simultaneously collided with a gigantic, wild-looking man with more frizzy black hair on his face and head than ought to be allowed. He picked them up one by one by the scruff of their necks, rather like a lioness with cubs. "'ere now, where're you three goin' in such an 'urry?" He took notice for the first time of the fourth year boys in quite an equal hurry. "Ohh, I see 'ow et is…tell yer what, then. Name's Hagrid. I'm groundskeeper at Hogwarts, so if y'get any problems with…BIG BULLIES WHAT'D BE BETTER OFF PICKIN' ON PEOPLE THEIR OWN SIZE," he rumbled, looking straight at the boys, "Jes' tell me. Into the boats." Hagrid swept them into the nearest boat, handed Chantel a lantern, and waded out to the first vessel in the line.   
  
  


"Ev'ryone in? Right, forward!" The boats lurched and moved forward as a unit. Lily sat in awe, gazing at the spindly turrets and sweeping buttresses of the faraway castle.   
  
  


"There it is," Chrissy breathed. "Can you imagine? We're going to be living there for seven years."   
  
  


"It looks like something out of a Muggle fairy tale book, doesn't it, Lily?" Chantel said.   
  
  


Lily smiled quietly to herself and thought about all the strange and wonderful things that had happened even in the few hours that she had been part of this new world. "I think my whole life's going to be pretty much out of a Muggle fairy tale book from now on."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
They were almost halfway across the lake when Chrissy shrieked suddenly and scrambled against one side of the boat, pointing fearfully over the side. "Look at that thing!"   
  
There was a giant grey squid propelling itself lazily along next to the tiny craft. One black eye shone curiously up at them, as though contemplating what kind of silly creatures these must be if they needed big wooden bowls to get through the water. Chantel rolled her eyes. "Ah, don't be afraid, Chrissy. He's probably just a big baby, is all." She reached out a hand and patted the squid just above its eye. "There you go, Cal."   
  
  


"Cal?"   
  
  


"Calimari," Chantel explained. "It's fried squid."   
  
  


The squid's placid eyes narrowed angrily, and he dove aloofly into the depths of the lake, despite Chantel's apologetic pleas for him to return. The only response was a haughty, dismissive wave of one of his tentacles before it arced down, down, down…   
  
  


CRACK   
  
  


The wave that Cal sent up by that one insulted slap of the water capsized the boat.   
  
Lily felt cold panic flood her brain as she was submerged in the water. She'd never learned how to swim, and now she flailed around hopelessly, trying to find something that would pull her to the surface. "Help!" She screamed, but only a large air bubble popped out of her mouth.   
  
  


She didn't see Chantel or Chrissy (or anything, come to think of it) in the muddy water, but she felt a large tentacle seize her around the waist and drag her through the lake, soon tossing her a little roughly into the reeds on a muddy bank.   
  
Lily hoisted herself, sopping wet, out of the water and caught her breath before wandering in what she presumed to be the general direction in which the boats had been heading. Was it the eeriness of the warped old trees and feral cries, or perhaps only the chill night air that made her shiver so? As she wound her way deeper into the woods, a long, low howl and the sudden emergence of the full September moon distracted her attention from the wooden sign nailed crookedly onto an old dead oak. It read, in chipping black medieval script:   
  
  


**_"Here was sought a Creature Unknown   
Which in a Fierce Spleen   
Didst slay a Chylde of Hogwarts   
Hereafter be these Woods   
FOREBYDDEN   
9 Apryle, A.D. 867   
G.G. S.S. R.R. H.H."_**


	2. The Forbidden Forest

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 2_

Lily flattened herself against a pillar-like tree, gasping for breath, and slid down between the moss-covered roots with her head in her hands.  Her legs were numb from running so long in the cold night air and her body shook with terror as she tried to talk herself out of the fear of the creature she had just encountered.  It had looked like a horned, green-spotted monkey with a giant red spot in the middle of its forehead and sinisterly sharp teeth bared in a ferocious grin, and now Lily held her breath and sat motionless while a band of them swung screeching through the branches above, hoping against hope that she would remain unnoticed.  She got shakily to her feet and looked around.  Had she been walking in circles?  How long _had she been walking?  Would anybody be looking for her by now?  There was only one thing to do:  Pick a direction and walk in it until she got out of these woods.  _

_If she ever got out of these woods.  _

She tried not to think like that, disentangling her hair from a branch.  Sharp roots reached out to grab at the hems of her robes like the hands of the undead, and she stumbled and fell into the smothering dark night. 

Suddenly, Lily heard a rustling sound coming from just up ahead. She froze and scanned the area intently.  Nothing.  _Just my imagination…A strange birdcall trilled from somewhere behind her.   She jumped and waited for talons to sink into her shoulder.  No talons came. __Maybe just a swallow or something…Nevertheless, she stood stock-still for a good three minutes, her heart pummeling her ribcage mercilessly and her ears bent on silence.  Silence…that was laced with the sound of water slapping softly against land!  _

Following the sound, she finally broke out of the forest and to the edge of the lake, which reflected a full moon, riding low on the horizon and almost set.  She looked around to get her bearings, noticing three main things: The mirrored lake in front of her, Hogwarts Castle not too far in the distance, and a large, tranquil willow tree nearby.  Lily walked towards the tree, intending to make her way to the castle (where she would certainly have a lot of explaining to do).   She put out a hand to rest against the trunk for a moment.

**BIG MISTAKE.**

She suddenly felt herself being pummeled all over by what felt like baseball bats. Knotted-up branches beat her down until she was sitting on the ground, trying desperately to get away.  Her flailing hand slammed against a knot and she...dropped....

"Oomph!" She slid down a dirt slope and found herself in a small tunnel. It was low and dark, with just enough space for Lily to fit comfortably inside. She kept going down the tunnel, left with no other apparent option (except for getting brutally beaten by a tree), until she came to a small, musty room. There were footprints in the thick carpet of dust on the floor, slowly tapering to paw prints. The scratch marks on the bed told of some animal being recently there.  A gnawed, splintered, wooden chair leg lay on the bed.  Trembling, she proceeded through the house. 

As she turned a corner, scratching and growling sounds came from the next room. A faint whimper, as of an animal, accompanied them.  Lily had no idea what to expect, but she took out her wand and held it awkwardly in front of her before investigating the sounds. 

She flattened herself against the wall outside like she'd seen people do in movies, and peered into the dark (and hopefully empty) room. The sight across the room took the breath from her lungs as if she had just been hit in the stomach. There, in the corner, was a wolf. But not like any wolf she had ever seen; it was bigger and had a flatter snout. Its fur was sticking straight up and its lips were curled back as it laid waste to the room, pulling books off the shelf, knocking over chairs, and chewing frantically on everything, as though it was in some kind of unbelievable pain and rage.  

Lily let out a tiny sob of fear, immediately clamping a hand to her mouth to silence any further sound.  But that had been enough for the wolf – it stopped in the middle of tearing a sheet to pieces and whirled around, its eyes locked with Lily's.  

Slowly, ever so slowly, Lily backed away, praying that she was just having a nightmare. The wolf, just as slowly, advanced on her.  Step by step...inch by inch...eye contact never wavering for a second…they wended a fearful way backwards. Suddenly, she found herself at a dead end, her only exit blocked by a pile of rubble. This strange, deadly-looking wolf let out a resounding bark and charged.


	3. Moony

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 3_

The wolf's jaws locked around her wand and snapped it in two like a twig. Lily screamed in the midst of the jumble of teeth, claws, fur, and flesh. How would she get out of this alive? She felt sharp teeth latch onto her sneaker, not quite sinking through the tough canvas. There was no way to escape, so she jabbed about with the only weapon she had: the broken halves of her wand. Still screaming, she lashed out, point-blank, until she felt the jagged edge hit something. The wolf howled in pain and rage as the wand scratched a deep cut down its face, again snapping its jaws everywhere it could. This time it caught onto a chunk of her robe material and started dragging her down the hallway, leaving a shiny trail in the dust. 

Suddenly the wolf's jaws went slack. Its teeth began to dull, and its fur was sucked back into its face like spaghetti. It yelped and scampered into the room that it had come out of. The animalistic whining turned into very human moans of pain. Finally free to follow her instincts, Lily turned around and ran for her life, despite a cut from the wolf's claws on her leg. 

"Wait!" A voice echoed down the hallway, making Lily glance over her shoulder even as she ran full-tilt to the exit. A boy, about half a head taller than her, was trying to catch up to her. She kept running. "No, wait!" This time, the voice was closer, and she felt a hand grab her arm. "Did I bite you?" Lily turned around and looked into the concerned brown eyes of a second year boy with a bloody gash down one side of his face. 

"What?" 

"You've got to tell me: did I bite you?" 

She looked at him in confusion. "Your...c-claws got my l-leg, but...n-no." 

"Ohh, thank God," he breathed. He released her arm and sank down against the wall in relief. "I could have killed you...or worse." As he glanced up at her, as though giving her a cue to react, she realized suddenly that he was the boy who had run into her at Hogsmeade Station. 

"I don't…I…what do you mean, 'or worse'? And…why were you a wolf?" As soon as the question left her lips, Lily was overcome by the stupidity of it. 

He smiled a little but immediately winced, putting a hand to the cut on his face. "Sit down," he said wearily, clearing a spot next to him in the thick dust. Lily sat down gingerly. With half a smile, he continued. "Well, I barely even remember it – that's how long ago it happened. I was playing in my backyard, and there was a wolf, and y'know, little kids always think that animals are friendly, but it bit me, and…" He turned uncomfortably away from her. "You get the idea." 

She shook her head in bewilderment, but then it dawned on her. "You're…" She fell silent and looked down at her quivering hands. 

"Go ahead. Say it." His voice was bitter. 

"A werewolf," she said softly. 

"That's right." 

"But...why did you turn back into a human?" 

"The full moon...it must have set. At least it's over for tonight." The boy put his elbows on his knees and his head between his hands, letting out a deep breath. "I guess it might be nice for someone to know other than me and the teachers." His voice shook. "Please don't tell anyone."


	4. Sorting

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 4****_

Lily, her mind still spinning from everything that had happened so far that night, nodded.  "I promise."  

He smiled wearily.  "Thanks.  Now let's go – I'm guessing you want to get Sorted."

"How did you know I'm a first year?" 

"You're, uh…you're not exactly tall."  Seeing her bristle at this, he changed tack very quickly.  "Anyway, most everyone knows to stay away from the Whomping Willow.  They planted that to guard the secret passage, so nobody would find me."  

They walked in silence, the boy leading Lily out of the creaky old house and back into the tunnel. To Lily's surprise, he paid no heed whatsoever to the jagged scrape on his cheek, except to casually press his shirtsleeve up against it every so often to check if it was still bleeding.  He started talking again as they entered the tunnel.  "Er…if you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you end up down there?" 

She ducked a root hanging from the tunnel's ceiling.  "Kind of a long story." 

"I like long stories – they give me something to think about between full moons."  

Once again, Lily was troubled by the unnatural seriousness of this boy.  "Okay…well, I guess it started when these two girls stole some candy from a few fourth-years, and they – the girls, I mean – came into my compartment on the train to hide from them.  Then we got off the train and the boys were running after us, because they figured I was in on it, too, right?  And we weren't really looking where we were going, so we ran right into a giant, and-"

"D'you mean Hagrid?  He couldn't be a giant.  Giants are supposed to be huge.  Half-giant, maybe, but I don't reckon Dumbledore would've hired a half-giant."  He sighed.  "Then again, he let _me come to Hogwarts, didn't he?  Sorry…go ahead with the story." _

She smiled sympathetically, but his back was to her, so he didn't see.  "That's all right.  Anyway, he put us into one of the boats and said that if we ever needed help or anything, to ask him." 

This time he actually turned around and grinned.  "Definitely Hagrid, then.  He said the same thing to me when I was a first year.  By the way, I'm Remus Lupin, and I guess I owe you one for keeping this whole werewolf thing a secret.  Two, if you count the fact that I just tried to kill you."  His smile remained, but the gravity returned to his affect.  

"I – it doesn't matter.  I'm Lily, Lily Evans." 

"Ok, then, Lily Lily Evans." Remus took on the expression of Nicky calling her 'Lily Something.'  "Sorry about interrupting your story so much.  Go on." 

So she explained about the squid, the forest, the monkey-like things (which he figured were some kind of land-dwelling Grindylow), and her encounter with the Willow, stopping only once as Remus hoisted himself out of the tunnel and froze the tree by pressing a knot, as he explained to her later.  

When they walked into the entrance hall, she immediately heard Remus mumble, "Uh-oh." 

"What?" 

"McGonagall." 

"What's that?" 

A terribly menacing middle-aged woman stalked towards them with a much younger woman beside her.  The younger woman wore an oversized matron's uniform and immediately looked up confusedly at the martinet beside her, whispering a little loudly, "Which one's the werewolf?" 

"The boy, Poppy, the boy."  She looked at Remus with a slightly softened expression.  "Mr. Lupin, I'm afraid you weren't here to get the news – Madam Pitcher retired over the summer.  Her daughter, Madam Pomfrey has taken over her position, and I've every confidence that she will fulfill her duties just as well."  Lily couldn't help but wonder if this was entirely true, as McGonagall's voice faltered a bit when she said it.  "Thank you for bringing Miss Evans back.  Now, off to the hospital wing with you."  

Remus gave Lily a quick wave before being led away by the fascinated new nurse, who was peppering him with wide-eyed questions about lycanthropy.  They hadn't even faded from earshot when McGonagall shot a stern look at Lily.  "Now, I don't have to tell you that you caused a bit of mass hysteria.  I imagine almost everyone in this school knows your name by now, Ms. Evans.  We had teachers scouring the grounds, and Hagrid's probably still crashing about the edges of the Forbidden Forest right now.  Your friends were positively distraught, and most likely still are.  Do you understand the repercussions of your actions?"

"I'm sorry.  The squid tipped our boat over, I'm sorry." 

"You can be as sorry as you like, but it won't change the fact that…"  McGonagall's eyes flicked down to see the wound on Lily's leg, and the color drained from her face.  "Did he…he didn't…" 

"No!  No, he didn't bite me.  It was just his claws."   

The stern woman seemed to relax just a bit.  "You've clearly been through a good deal tonight.  Normally, I would severely penalize such foolishness, but it's not my place to deal out punishment – you haven't been Sorted yet, have you?"  Without waiting for an answer, she muttered a quick spell that healed the cut, and stalked off with Lily in tow.  

The Professor led her into a large but empty room with four long, bare tables and one stool sitting on a dais at the front of it.  On the stool was a ratty, patched, threadbare old hat that somehow gave off an air of majesty in its antiquity.  Maybe it wasn't beautiful in spite of its being old, Lily thought to herself, but beautiful _because of its being old.      _

McGonagall lifted up the hat.  "Sit," she instructed Lily before lowering the hat onto her head.  As the brim slipped down past Lily's eyes, a small voice began to speak in her ear. 

_"Hmm...let's see what we've got here.  Clever, very clever.  Terribly loyal, though.  Even a bit frightened that you won't get in with your friends, I see?  Sounding more and more like a Hufflepuff every second, my dear.  But my goodness, it's not every day you come across a girl who would peek into a room with a werewolf inside it, not to mention put up such a fight against that werewolf – ah, and befriend him once he was back in human form.  If I'm not mistaken, Godric Gryffindor himself did something strikingly similar…or was that Helga Hufflepuff?  Ah, well, you are dedicated to your friends.  And they were both Gryffindor.  As such, I will give you the benefit of the doubt…GRYFFINDOR!" _

Once it yelled Gryffindor, Lily pulled the hat off as if she had just discovered there were burning coals in it.  She jumped off the stool with very shaky legs and stopped on her way out the door to look back at McGonagall.  "Where do I go now?"

"Er…walk out those doors and up the staircase to the right.  You'll come to three doors that keep snickering and changing shape.  Don't go through those, but make sure you pretend you find them funny, or they won't let you go.  To the left of them is another staircase with a silver banister.  Go up those stairs, and – oh, wait, that one's taken to sealing itself off every first of the month, hasn't it?  Forget all I said.  Go to the staircase on the _left when you walk out of here, and ask it politely to please bring you to the Lion's Den.  It will adjust accordingly, and spit you out right in front of a statue of an eagle if you go right up it.  The eagle statue has practically no significance except that its head is always facing whichever passage is right to go down that day – it's impossible to keep track of.  Once you are in the correct hallway, go right, then left, then right twice, then left three times, and left again after passing a right and a left but not taking them.  You'll reach a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress.  The password's 'Icklesickle.'  And, oh, incidentally, if you come across a singing suit of armor, don't talk to it – it's a bit drunk."  She gathered up the hat and the stool and began walking out a side exit.  "I would normally walk you back there, but I'm a bit frightened for poor Mr. Lupin; Madam Pomfrey isn't, shall we say, the most competent nurse we've ever had, and I feel it's my duty as head of Gryffindor House to make sure my students aren't being terrorized by empty-headed matrons.  I'm sure you'll find your way just fine, Ms. Evans." _

Quite dazedly, Lily made her way out the door, attempting to remember the directions even as she took every wrong turn possible.  


	5. The Four Mauraders

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 5_

Running her fingers through her hair self-consciously but smiling at the fact that she was in Gryffindor, Lily searched for the entrance to her House. She had never been anywhere like Hogwarts before. It truly was a castle, with huge portraits and tapestries hanging ominously off of stone walls. Was it just a trick of the candlelight, or were the knights in that picture really jousting? A cold gargoyle seemed to growl at her from the shadows...

"Whoa! Hey, watch where you're going!" Lily jumped at the sound - and feel - of the person she had just ran smack into. Both of them lost their balance and fell backwards. Little candies seemed to fall out of nowhere, skittering like skipping stones across the cobbled floor. A stream of silver cloth slithered to the ground out of thin air as three boys about Remus's age materialized to pick the candies back up. 

Lily gaped as she got to her feet and backed up against the wall, her eyes wide with disbelief. What kind of a place was this, anyway? Things and people appear out of nowhere, gargoyles growl, paintings move, werewolves nearly kill humans... 

"Aw, look," one of the boys said, bringing Lily back to the situation at hand. "We've gone and frightened a poor ickle first year." He approached her paternally and held out what looked like a little peppermint. "Here." His longish black hair hung down over mischevious brown eyes, and he was smiling a little more than was warranted. Lily pushed his hand away, 

much to the delight of his comrades. 

"She's not falling for that one, Sirius!" The taller of the two hooted. "This one's too smart to take a peppermint toad from you." 

"Might want to work on your approach."

"Yeah, the whole 'ickle first year' deal wouldn't even sell to a fish."

"Ah, bug off," Sirius said. Then, he pocketed the candy and turned back to Lily, putting on a regal air. "I do beg thy pardon of these two villainous rogues that do speak so roughly in thy presence." He made an ornate bow and kissed her hand chivalrously. While the two other boys rolled their eyes, he looked up, winked, and whispered loudly. "This working 

better?" 

Lily wasn't sure what to do, but she was spared the decision when the first boy who had spoken to Sirius pushed him out of the way. "Ignore him. He's the resident prat." He smiled a little crookedly, lighting up his grayish-colored eyes – or was it just the candlelight reflecting off of his glasses? Lily couldn't tell why (his black hair stuck up comically in the back, and he was a bit too tall and thin), but he seemed rather nice-looking to her. 

"Oh, come off it, you're twice the prat I am!" 

"I'm James," the boy said, ignoring his friend. "James Potter." He extended his hand, and Lily took it. 

"Lily Evans. I just got here." 

Sirius chimed in sarcastically. "Really? 'Cos judging by the fact that you're miles from everything but the Astronomy Tower, and I'm assuming you aren't doing some late-evening stargazing, especially on such a cloudy -"

The caustic banter was cut off by the other boy. "Hi, Lily. My name's Peter Pettigrew."  Lily's first impression upon seeing him in good light was to wonder when the Gerber baby grew up. His mouth hung open slightly, giving the impression of not much going on beneath the swirly light brown locks on his head. He had little watery blue eyes and a very triangular nose. 

She greeted the third member of the ragtag crew, then hesitated before stating what was really on her mind. "Where did you three come from?"

James jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "The kitchens. Nicking desserts and such. Remus's the one who figured out how, actually, but he's..."

"Sick?" Peter suggested.

Sirius laughed. "Always. But I think he said something about his mum, and having some kind of Tanzanian flu. He's not here tonight, in any case. I mean, we were tickling the apple, the lemon, and then finally, we hit the - _yowch!" James had apparently driven a sharp elbow into his friend's ribs. _

Lily shook her head, deciding to not explain where Remus really was, since he HAD told her not to tell anyone. "No, that's not what I mean. You just popped out of thin air...how did you do that?" 

"Well," Sirius began, taking a step towards her. Then his face broke into a huge grin.  "That's for us to know, and you to find out! Now, it's our turn to ask a question. What are you doing all alone in this corridor when you should be in the Great Hall, stuffing your little face?" 

"I'm looking for Gryffindor house. I guess that's my question. Where is it?" 

James clapped his hands together delightedly. "Well! Incidentally, that's exactly where we're headed." He stooped and picked up the silvery puddle of fabric, stuffing it into his Hogwarts robes. "Care to join us?" 

Lily nodded and followed them. The three boys chatted and laughed very raucously, and when they passed a coughing suit of armor, Sirius turned around. "Oi, Lily! Come on up here with us, we don't bite. Well, except James here, but that's only when he's hungry." 

"All right," Lily said bashfully. Wow, she thought. This is nice. I haven't been at Hogwarts for a day, and already I've got a lot of friends. 

Peter started the next conversation. "Boy, I hope Gryffindor wins this year." 

"How can we NOT? We've got James on the team now." Sirius clapped James on the back, a satisfied grin plastered across his face.

"Team?" Lily crinkled her brow in confusion. Maybe she didn't belong here after all. 

"Quidditch?" James said, in a very 'hello? what planet are you from?' tone. 

Her cheeks flushed a temperamental pink. Was that some kind of wizard insult? "What does that mean?" she asked defensively. 

"Hey, hey, calm down! Muggle-born, right?" Sirius had thrown himself in front of James quite in the manner of a bodyguard. 

"Yes." 

"Ah, well, that explains it. Quidditch is just a sport, you play it on broomsticks." 

"Kind of like soccer in the Muggle world." Peter winked at her. "I'm a half-blood, so I'll probably be able to help you out more than either of them...pure-bloods, through and through." 

"Not like any of that matters," James threw in hastily. 

"Yeah, don't want to turn you into one of those stinking Slytherins...now, about Quidditch."  And Sirius began rattling off all the rules and positions. 

About ten minutes later, they were standing in front of a huge portrait of a fat lady in a pink dress. Lily jumped when the fat lady shifted sleepily and mumbled, "Password, please." 

Peter must have noticed, because he leaned over and whispered in her ear. "Every house's got a password. They're usually a little strange, but you get used to them." Then, he looked up at the portrait and shouted a single word aloud. "Icklesickle." 

The fat lady swung outward on her hinges, revealing a large hole in the wall. They clambered through it and into a warm, circular room. Red velvet carpet lined the floor, leading up to an ornately carved fireplace. Polished gold lions pounced in liquid motion from a brick mantle, shining angrily in the firelight. Lily's eyes wandered up the pale yellow walls to the ceiling, where hung a huge red banner. In golden lettering, it read "**Welcome all first years!" Two lions were drawn at either end of the message, both reared up and ready to attack.**

She was drawn out of the reverie by Sirius's hand turning her around to face a spiral staircase. "That, Lily, is the girls' dormitories. I think you'd better go up there and fix yourself up...you look like you'd need it, eh?" Amid the stifled snickers of the three boys, Lily ascended the stairs, wondering what new surprises would await her in the dormitory. 

When she opened the door, Chrissy was standing at a dresser unpacking her trunk, Chantel sitting on an elegant four-poster bed, wringing her hands worriedly. "Lily!" Chrissy dropped a black robe that she was in the process of folding and Chantel leaped up from the bed. "What happened? Where were you?" 

"It's...a long story." Lily sank wearily down onto the third four-poster and fell backwards onto the red satin comforter. 

"Oh, no, you don't!" Chantel sat right down next to her and yanked her up by the shoulders.  "We've got time, so tell that story." 

Chrissy crossed her arms indignantly. "Chantel! What if she's hurt or something? You _are all right, aren't you, Lily?" _

"No, I'm fine! I'm just really tired." 

"Well, tell us what happened, then you can lay back down and sleep as long as you want." 

"What about...classes?" Lily asked, yawning. 

"Cancelled. Some stupid boys skipped the feast and decided to explode a few classrooms 

instead." 

As Chrissy rolled her eyes, Lily smiled to herself. That was probably James, Sirius, and Peter. "All right. When the boat tipped over, I panicked. I don't know how to swim; I never learned. I probably would've drowned, but the squid pushed me up onto land, and I went through the forest...they don't call it Forbidden for nothing! It felt like everything was alive and watching me, and then this huge spider came out of nowhere! I shouted out the first spell I could think of, and it made the spider shrink to normal size. Then..." Lily paused. What had really happened next? She had met up with Remus in werewolf form. She couldn't tell them that. "I found the edge of the lake, but the one closer to the castle.  I, er...I walked around a lot and tried to find the entrance. And now I'm here, and I really want to go to sleep." 

"After the boat tipped, Chrissy and I swam our way to the castle."

"Yeah, we thought that you were right behind us! We're really sorry, Lil!" 

Much as she liked her new friends, Lily knew that the chatter wouldn't stop until they were diverted. "Listen, I ran into a few second-year boys on the way in who had some candy and stuff. I think they're down in the common room, having a bit of a party for themselves."  Almost before she had finished talking, Chrissy and Chantel had flown from the room eagerly. 

When they had left, Lily flopped back down with her head on the soft feather pillow. Her arm dropped over the side of the mattress, bumping against the top of her trunk on its limp descent. "Hmmmmm," she groaned discontentedly, resentful of the new task. It would be rather hard for her in the morning if she didn't take advantage of the chest of drawers at the other end of the room. Dragging herself out of the welcoming bed, she threw the trunk open. The scowl on her face dissolved when she saw the tiny yellow music box lying atop her belongings. 

Lily flicked open the latch, watching the false blanket of ice rise with the tiny ice-skater. The little glass girl slid gracefully across the mirrored surface in an impossibly complex pattern that Lily's eyes had never been able to follow. The familiar 

tinkly melody had her on the verge of sleep again, so she hastily closed the music box and set it gingerly on her bedside table. 

She began to unpack her trunk. First, the set of robes and pijamas; she turned in her torn, dirty robes that currently hung off of her thin frame for a cozy flannel nightgown. Then, she extracted a terrycloth drawstring bag that contained everything she needed to fix herself up.  After a short while in front of the mirror, her once scraggly red hair was toweled-dry and pulled into a light blue ponytail holder. The smudges of dirt on her face were washed away; leaving only the soft brown freckles that had always decorated her button nose and made her look like a little girl. She sighed, wishing that she could have washed those away, too.  Whenever she had complained at home, though, her father had begun a speech about how the freckles just made her emerald-green eyes shine brighter. A few tears poked painfully at those emeralds as she longed to be home with her family in London. 

The door slammed open. "How d'you like that?" Chantel said thickly, through a mouthful of honey lemon drops. "They throw a party without inviting us!" 

"Thnrrv!" Chrissy agreed, munching on a biscuit. 

"Yeah, the nerve of those two." 

"Two?" Lily's eyebrows knitted. "There were three when I met them." 

Chrissy swallowed her biscuit. "There was some guy...Grim? Was that his name?" 

"I dunno."

"Oh, well. One of the guys was off at the kitchens, robbing those poor cooks blind. Again.  But you know something," She bit off another hunk of the biscuit. "I don't really care how he gets it, as long as he teaches me." 

Chantel sighed. "I wish I could get to know those guys better." 

"Oh, I could...re-introduce you to them, I guess." Lily took one last glance in the mirror, then turned and smiled broadly at her two friends. "Actually, there are four."

Chantel and Chrissy exchanged looks and spoke in unison. "Four?" 

"What are all their names? And how did you meet them?" Chrissy demanded, now seeming very interested. 

"Remus Lupin, James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter...oh, yeah, Pettigrew." 


	6. The Winds of Fate Change

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

_(A/N): Thank you to all of my reviewers!! You have really inspired me to write more chapters.  
Please keep reviewing!  
  
  
  
_

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 6  
  
  
_

  
  
Chantel's eyes widened. "Are you sure? Those are their names?" 

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure," Lily said, a bit confused. "Why?" 

"That's them!" Chrissy shrilled. "Headmaster Dumbledore called for four boys to come to his office after the feast because they were the ones that blew up the classrooms, and that's them!" 

"Ohh, they're in so much trouble! They're going to lose Gryffindor at least a…a thousand points before the first Quidditch game, even!" Chantel disappeared behind the curtains of her four-poster with a short, almost devious chuckle. 

Chrissy returned to the robes she had been folding up. "Looks like we've made friends with a crowd of delinquents." She seemed to be rather pleased about it, though. 

"They're not delinquents," Lily said defensively. "Just…pranksters." 

"You'd think different if you'd heard what I've heard." Chantel's voice issued forth, then she poked her head out of the curtains. "Hey, Lily, could you do me a favor and toss me that big teddy bear?" 

Ignoring Chrissy's laughter at that comment, Lily fell back onto her own bed. "I would if I could move my arms. I'm going to get a good night's sleep and wake up at noon." She snuggled under the thick blankets and glanced at the bedside table. Then, she laughed sheepishly at herself. "I'm such a Muggle…I was looking for an alarm clock to turn off so that it wouldn't wake me up." 

"Oh, we won't need alarm clocks, Lily," Chrissy yawned. "You'll see what I mean tomorrow." 

Lily's curiosity was not strong enough to keep her awake.   
  
  
  


~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
  


_Lily picked another of the white, bell-shaped flowers from the vast meadow that lay under the warm blanket of the sun. They had a pungent aroma that was somewhere between sour and immeasurably sweet. A pleasant shiver raced down her spine as the sun's heat hit her face. She looked up at the sky, where bluejays and robins chirped the melody of her music box; which made sleepiness wash over her. Lying down in the grass and closing her eyes, Lily suddenly felt something unusual and hard under her back. Reaching carefully for the object, she brought it into eyes view. It was   
her music box, but there was something hanging from it; a black bracelet. What was that charm that was attached to it? She brought it closer to her face, trying to make out the pattern.   
  
The serene wind that stroked through her hair suddenly turned fierce and demanding. The white lilies that scattered through the grass had transfigured into large thorns the size of Lily's feet.   
  
Drops of water sprinkled from the sky as the booming sound of thunder echoed through the air. Tremors of fear and confusion racked her body with every roll of thunder.   
  
An evil cackling seemed to emanate from everything, even the music box. It resounded fiercely in her ears until Lily covered them with her hands, dropping the music box to the floor. Hot tears trickled down her cheeks as she collapsed onto her knees, unable to take in any more of the maddening sound.   
  
A serpent appeared at her heels, hissing viciously. It flicked the music box and unusual bracelet out of her reach with a motion of its tail. Lily cried out and reached past the snake for her music box, but the venomous reptile snapped at her hand. While she gazed dully at her fingers and palm, wondering why the bite hadn't hurt, she failed to notice that the snake was swallowing her music box whole…   
  
  
_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Good morning!!" Chantel screamed, her mouth a millimeter from Lily's right ear.  She woke up with the thrill of pure pain as beads of sweat poured down her face.   
  
Chrissy grabbed a comb and started pulling it through her hair. "See, I told you we wouldn't need to buy alarm clocks Lily, we have Chantel, the rooster."  
  
This caused Chantel to dive for a pillow on the nearest bed, and start swacking Chrissy as well as Lily.  
  
Soon, all three girls had a pillow in grasp and were engaged in a very long pillow fight.  
  
"I...think...we...should...get...ready...for breakfast." Lily panted as she set her pillow down in defeat. The other girls both nodded in agreement.  
  
Chrissy helped Lily put her hair in a long braid, as Chantel put on her black robes.  
  
Peter, James, and Sirius were already eating when Lily arrived in the Great Hall. She felt a little strange about walking over to say hello, because technically, she didn't know them all that well. However, before Chantel or Chrissy came downstairs, Sirius sat down in the chair next to Lily and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Lily Evans, ickle first year extraordinaire!"

Once again, she wasn't sure how to respond to the semi-flirtatious outbursts of Sirius Black. "Er…hi." 

"Still scared, hmm? Well, that's okay. I dunno about me and Peter, but James's mug could scare the enamel off a tooth some days. Tell ya what – we'll get back to you later, when you're not so intimidated." 

James and Peter dropped into place across the table from them. Peter chimed in. "Bit of luck really. We're busy anyhow." 

"Busy?" Lily said, finally feeling as though she had the upper hand in the conversation. "With what?" 

Sirius glared at Peter while James took over, leaning across the table and winking at Lily. "That's another one of those things that we get to know and you get to find out."

"Let's just say we're doing some research for Advanced Transfiguration." The trio shared a snicker at what was obviously an inside joke, then took off back to their seats. 

"Advanced Transfiguration?" Lily called after them. "But isn't that for Fifth Years?" 

Sirius turned around and walked backwards for a second to respond to her. "Fifth years…and ambitious Second Years!" 

That day, Chrissy taught Lily how to play Wizard's Chess, and even gave her a hand-me-down set. Lily immediately penned her initials on the bottom of each piece, thanking Chrissy profusely. Perhaps a little jealous for the spotlight, Chantel helped them both to learn Exploding Snap strategies. Later that day, as they explored the castle, they came across a large organ. Chrissy and Chantel showed Lily how to play "Heart and Soul" by prodding the keys with her nose!   
  
Her two new friends' snoring kept Lily up that night. Failing to fall asleep, she reached under her bed to grab a fairy-tale book. Her father commented on bringing them, so as to have something to remind her of home. Flipping through the pages of "Sleeping Beauty", she felt the minutes tick by slowly. She got bored after awhile, having heard the story at least a hundred times before. Lily set the book down gently and brought out her diary. Her mother had always encouraged her to keep a diary. "It's like a gift of who you are, to who you'll be," she had said. As she scribbled down her thoughts, the thought struck Lily that there could be secret passages in the castle. It was certainly an ancient building. Maybe, just maybe it did....   
  
  
  
The next day, before Chrissy or Chantel awoke, Lily silently crept out of the room and past the Great Hall. Making sure her shoes didn't make noise, she ambled throughout the castle, half-hoping that she wouldn't find anything. The other half of her was full of an insatiable curiosity to find out what secrets the school held.   
  
"_Meeeerooooow__!" Lily reeled back in surprise. She had accidentally stepped on a cat. Her first thought was shock at finding a cat inside Hogwarts. It was black all over, with a shock of white on its face, which gave it a hooded appearance, and slitted red eyes. Nothing like Mrs. Norris, Lily thought, besides, this cat was so gaunt that she could see the creature's ribs. "I'm sorry," she said hesitantly, extending a hand to comfort it. The black cat hissed and raked its claws across her hand instead of accepting the consolation. "Ow!" Lily jumped away, hurrying away from that strange animal and making sure it didn't follow. _

  
It looked though there was a classroom up ahead. She swung the door open and then slammed it shut. Closing her eyes, she took deep breaths to calm herself and tried to blot away the blood from the back of her hand. She had a mental picture of the cat's eyes vividly surrounding every thought. Blood red, a cold and unforgiving color of pure fear. Do normal wizard's cats have red eyes? Leaning against the back of the door, she gazed around the room. Dusty books were piled to the ceiling, either forgotten or lost. Old quills, empty bottles of ink, and crumpled parchment were covered in cobwebs, allowing spiders to roam freely around the deserted classroom.   
  
Lily stepped away from the door, and proceeded in her investigation of the room room. Her   
gaze wandered through the rubble until it settled on the wall opposite the door…  
  
She brushed away the thick dust covering from the stone and noticed the two letters carved on the wall: **T R   
  
Lily ran her hand over it, pushing against it slightly. The wall gave way to reveal a tunnel. It seemed pitch-black, but as her eyes adjusted, she noticed a few lines of text written in glimmering silver on the back of the secret door. **

_"Take heed that thou art kin of mine_

_That we be of the same bloodline_

_For peril awaits the Mudblood churl_

_That dares to enter the Slytherins' world._

_My symbol, pride, my calling-card_

_Shall crush thy bones to a thousand shards.___

_Forgo this entrance and any more_

_For thou wilt not enter my Chamber of lore!"_

Lily cursed her own curiosity and wondered how to re-seal the door. The evil cackling from her dream echoed through the darkness. Lily froze, not daring to move or make any noise. She could swear that she heard footsteps and felt breathing down her neck. All at once, the red-eyed cat from a few minutes before brushed against her ankles as it skittered down the passageway. Lily's frantic mind was blinded of her bearings as she ran.  
  
  
  
Lily woke with a start that night; hearing light tapping outside of the window. Before getting out of bed, she had to reassure herself that it was only a dream. How, then, questioned her panicky side, were the cat's clawmarks still apparent on her hand? Dismissing the question, she cautiously opened the latch. A snow-colored owl fluttered in and landed on her bed. The owl leaned its leg out, showing Lily the letter it brought her. She untied the string that held the envelope from falling, and patted the owl on the head, thanking him.  
  
The owl cooed and pecked Lily's fingers affectionately. She giggled, watching the owl fly back into the night air. She walked down towards the common room to read it. There would be more light in the common room; she could read the letter easier.   
  
She sat down in a silk arm chair, wondering who would know to send her letters by owl. With a little bit of confusion, she opened the envelope. Lily scanned the parchment with utter disbelief. There was no battle of protest as hot tears blinded her sight, coursing down her face freely.  
  
  
  
She realized when she woke up that she had cried herself to sleep the previous night.  Then with a sinking feeling, she realized exactly why she had been crying.  The letter, still clutched in her hand, was both smudged and stubbornly stiff as if   
determined to remind her that dawn didn't make it any less true: Her parents were dead.  
  
The letter read:  
  
  
_Dear Ms. Evans,  
  
  
It is with our deepest apologies and consolations that we inform you of your parents' deaths. We regret, also, to inform you of the way in which they died. Your parents were the victims of a Dark wizard who we believe to be the most dangerous one alive, surpassing even the recently defeated Grindelwald. This Dark wizard calls himself Lord Voldemort._

_  
Your sister, Petunia, was at her Muggle boarding school at the time. She will be under the care of school officials until a school holiday at which time she will be staying with your grandmother. I must say that there is some concern as to your destination for the school holidays; your grandmother seems to share your sister's unfortunate opinion of witchcraft and wizardry. Please find consolation in that we will do our best to find you a nice wizarding family to stay with.   
  
My best wishes to you and your sister,   
  
Cyril A. Pillory_

**_Minister of Magic _**


	7. Chantel's Secret

**© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara ****Maplewood****, year 2000-2001**

  
  
**_A/N:__ The first line of the second paragraph must be credited to the author of Kissing Doorknobs. Thank you!   
  
_****_Disclaimer:__ Sorry that I've never had one. Chrissy and Chantel belong to me, but everyone else belongs to the oh-so-famous J.K. Rowling. Hey, she gets paid for thinking up these characters, so why can't we get paid for thinking up our own little characters?  Just kidding, of course, I don't want to be pinned with the "rebel" reputation.  
  
  
_**

**Lily**

_Chapter 7_

  
  
  


Chrissy and Chantel came down the dormitory stairs, tousle-haired and sleepy-eyed. Chrissy was looking disgruntled, rubbing her ear and shooting angry glances at Chantel. Both stopped in their tracks when they saw Lily's tear-streaked face staring at them from the armchair. Immediately, they sat themselves on either side of her. "Lily...what happened?"   
  
When sympathy and kindness are put near sadness like that, it's like throwing oxygen on a flame. Lily burst out crying yet again and handed the letter over to her friends before saying tearfully, "I've never even heard of him!"   
  
Even just scanning the letter gave Chantel enough information to know what was going on. Further inspection painted a look of horror on her face, once she saw the name. "Voldemort? Oh, Lily...I'm sorry." She hugged her friend and brushed away a few tears that threatened to fall. "He's really, really bad. He killed my uncle...I'm really sorry!"   
  
"Why are you sorry? It's not your fault!" Lily sobbed.   
  
"No...you don't understand, Lily. Voldemort-" She stopped, opening her mouth a few times and trying to find the words to say this. "is...my father. As soon as he married my mother, it went seriously wrong, and there were a lot of complications, and then I was sort of the clincher. He left, and the next we knew of him, he and a group of people he had gathered had killed my uncle. So...I'm sorry."   
  
"But why didn't you get sorted into Slytherin?"   
  
"It said that I should go into Slytherin, but I begged and pleaded with that hat, so it plunked me down here...thank goodness," she added.   
  
Lily had been shocked out of tears by this new news. Chrissy, through sleepy eyes, was doing her best to look awake.  She actually spoke. "Uh...wow. Might have been a good idea to tell us beforehand, Chantel."   
  
"I know, but you would have thought I was as evil as he is! I even look like the rotter! I've got this dark hair, and these eyes...well, he DID have green eyes, but they were red when he murdered my uncle."   
  
"Um...wow." Chrissy wasn't feeling verbal that morning.  
  
There was a stunned silence in the room, but the topic had to be abandoned as other Gryffindors leaked into the common room bit by bit. "We'll talk later," murmured Chantel.   
  
Lily sat and watched everyone come in and go out. She was oblivious to it all, even when the four boys walked by and said hi to her, she waved numbly back. Everyone recognized something wrong, but nobody cared enough to ask just what. Or perhaps, she thought, it was that they cared too much to ask. If you see a puddle in the middle of a flower garden, you might pass it by, for it will dry up in time. But if you go and try to bail it out, you'll disturb the waters and make it worse before making it better. (A/N- This analogy was made up by Clara Maplewood)  
  
Lily thought she fell asleep, but mostly just sat there, not caring what she missed. She didn't take out any of her schoolbooks for some pre-term studying, she didn't attempt to make conversation with anyone, and she didn't care.  She was numb to the world, and that was how she liked it. Maybe blocking the good emotions would block the bad ones, too.  
  
It was after lunch time that someone other than Chantel and Chrissy actually talked to her. She heard a voice say "Lily?  What's going on?" She turned slowly to face the voice and found herself looking into the same eyes she had just before she was Sorted: the concerned eyes of Remus Lupin. "You haven't talked to anyone or done anything all day."   
  
"Oh...um...it's just..." She drew a shaky breath, fighting the urge to break into tears. "No-hu-huthiiiing!" It didn't work. Before she knew it, she was sobbing on Remus's shoulder, just thankful for the outlet of sadness. "I got a letter from the Ministry of Magic and my parents are dead and Voldemort killed them!" She gasped out the simple reason between gasps for air. Everyone in the common room, even if they were in conversations with other people, kept shooting worried glances over in her direction.   
  
"O.k...o.k..." Remus was obviously a little unsettled by having Lily break down like this on his shoulder, but still understood what she was going through. "That's horrible." He gingerly patted her back; he didn't want the whole of Gryffindor House to think he was hugging her or anything and sent an S.O.S in a look to James and Sirius. They came over and tried to calm Lily down.   
  
Sirius nudged James and whispered out of the side of his mouth. "What are we supposed to do?"   
  
James whispered back. "I don't know...it's probably just a girl thing...she'll be over it in a while."   
  
Lily stopped crying abruptly, took her head off Remus's shoulder, and slapped James smartly across the face.   
  
"_Ow!" yelled James, staggering backwards and clutching his cheek. Lily had gone back to crying.   
  
"What's wrong?" said Sirius. "Who turned on the waterworks?" _

  
"Sirius! Her parents died!" said Remus indignantly.   
  
"Oh...God, I'm sorry. How did it happen?"   
  
Remus spoke one word that seemed to send an electric charge through Sirius's body. "Voldemort."   
  
"I've heard of that one. They say he's even worse than Grindelwald was." he said gravely. "Say he's even got a few followers, called Death Destroyers or something like that. Don't ask me why they chose that name, since they've only caused death as far as I know. They've even got this sign they fire up in the air whenever they kill anyone; a green skull with a snake for a tongue..." he shivered, as did Lily.   
  
Lily was picturing the scene. Her mother, probably sweeping or doing the dishes or something, then her father listening to the radio for his business reports, or reading the newspaper, then a man coming in with green- no, red, eyes and black hair and Death Destroyers or whatever behind him. How did they die, exactly? This not knowing was terrible! All she could imagine were two dead bodies and two green skulls hovering over her house, with the snakes hissing mockingly...  
  
"What's up?" Chantel's voice snapped her back to reality. "What haaaa...oh, hi!" She was staring straight at Sirius.  "I don't think we've met, my name's...um...um...I'll have it in a sec..."   
  
Sirius was looking at Chantel rather oddly, too, though Lily wasn't sure whether it was affection or worry.  "I'm S...Sih...I know it begins with an s..."   
  
James rolled his eyes. "All right, one has some little girl who slapped me across the face sobbing on his shoulder, and one has just checked out of Hotel Sanity, and one is up in the dormitory, snoring. Am I the only one who still has a brain? _Ow!"  Lily had smacked his other cheek. "God, you've got a good arm there. Ever think about being a Beater?"   
  
"Only if you're the Bludger!" Shrieked Lily. "What IS your problem?"   
  
"I think my problem just hit me twice and is leaking like a faucet," said James.   
  
"Stop it!" She yelled, even shriller than before. She ran up to the dormitory, still crying.   
  
James sat down, exhausted. "Girls!"_


	8. The Christmas Dance

  
  
  
© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2002  
  
  
**Lily**

_Chapter 8_

   
  
  
  


James and Sirius were in the boys' dormitory, James holding ice to both cheeks. It was a rather comical sight, all in all. Sirius was getting bored, and when Sirius gets bored, you better watch your back. "Oh Jaaammmeess!"  
  
"Yeeeeesss Sirius?" James was not in the best mood. He had just been slapped in the face by a first year, who, to top it off, was a girl.  
  
"I see that crestfallen look on your sad little face. Heartbreak, my good chap, heartbreak!" He threw little sly smiles across the room at James. "And don't tell me you didn't feel the electricity crackle when Lily smacked your face."   
  
"Look, I only like her as a friend...well, I don't really know her that well, so I guess I don't like her even as a friend...but, since she seems to be Remus's friend, I guess that she's my friend, too, if someone who slaps you across the face is considered a friend." James rubbed his own face sorely.   
  
"Well you deserved it! You acted like a jerk out there! I mean, honestly, she just lost her parents!" Sirius was sprawled out across his bed. He looked a little like a spider, and you could almost see the web being woven in his mind. "Luckily for you, Prongs, I've thought up a plan that'll probably make Lily start talking to you again, at least. If it works out the right way, both of you will have a lovely experience."  
  
James sighed and watched his breath crystallize between the ice packs. "Whatever could your plan be?"  
  
"Well, there's going to be a dance right before the Christmas holiday. Lily seems to me like the kind of girl who loves to dance. I'll bet that if you ask her, and if you _apologize, you two will be back on speaking terms with each other. I can see it all now..." Sirius clasped his hands and looked off into the distance like a lovesick schoolgirl. "The romantic lighting, the slow music, ah!" He swooned back onto his bed, fluttering his eyelids madly.   
  
James chucked a pillow at Sirius, who caught it and sat back up. "You can forget about the romance, Mr. Matchmaker. I don't think she wants to even be in the same room as me at this point. Anyways, I have to train extra hard for our Quidditch Captain. I swear, he's lost his mind. We won Saturday's match, so we'll be playing in the tournament against Ravenclaw. Thank goodness that Malfoy broke his arm and the Slytherins didn't have a replacement. We would have been long gone by now if that hadn't happened."  
  
"You can set aside a little time for the dance though, right?"  
  
"Weeell....nah..." James was a little bit reluctant to agree with Sirius, since it would almost be like admitting that Sirius was right.   
  
"I'm not telling you to kiss her or anything, I just want you to ask her to the dance!"   
  
"She'll say no."   
  
"And you'll be happy, right? It's a win-win situation. She says yes, you have one more friend, she says no, you avoid years of my torment. Come on!"   
  
"All right."  
  
  
  
  
  
_

James made his way down to the common room to find what he expected. There, in the dark corner of the room, was Lily. She didn't notice that he took the seat next to her until about five minutes had passed. Lily would have been content to remain in her unfocused, inward-turned thoughts, but went back to reality. She saw from out of the corner of her eyes that someone was staring at her, and set her jaw tightly when she realized that it was James Potter.   
  
"What, are you here for a replay of this morning?" She spat, while choking back tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. "I'll be happy to slap you again!"   
  
"Jeez, I didn't think you were going to get all offended. I was always told that the best medicine was laughter. Now I know it doesn't work for you." He half-cautiously smiled.  
  
"No kidding!"   
  
"I really didn't mean to make you so mad!" The smile dropped from his face. "I just wanted to make you feel better about it."   
  
"Can one person be more insensitive?" Lily crossed her arms over her chest and avoided James's eyes. "Don't you get it? I don't WANT to laugh! I don't WANT to be happy right now!"   
  
He sighed. "I know what you mean. How you're feeling..."   
  
"Oh, sure you do. That's why you made fun of me like that!" Her voice positively oozed with   
sarcasm.   
  
"Look, just trust me here! I know how you feel!" James stopped trying to make eye contact with Lily and said quietly, "My mum passed away before I came to Hogwarts. I really didn't get it then, that death meant forever, but I can understand that you wouldn't want to be happy if you knew what death was."   
  
She caught her breath with a small sob. When she spoke, her voice was heavy and uneven with   
suppressed tears. "What are you trying to say?"   
  
"I'm...sorry, I guess."   
  
"Me too. For hitting you, I mean."   
  
"So, we're friends again?"   
  
"Yeah, I guess so." She rose and walked towards her dormitory. "I'm going to go get some sleep."   
  
"Um, Lily? Would you like to go to the dance with me? Just as friends, of course," he added hastily.   
  
"Sure. Why not?" For the first time since she got the letter, Lily smiled.   
  
  
  
  
  
The days until Saturday flew by, and soon it was time for the dance.   
  
Lily found her emerald green robe and Chantel charmed it to sparkle, like her friend's eyes.  Chrissy wove Lily's hair in a long braid with little lilies scattered throughout the thick auburn locks. Her shoes a light green and her cheeks flushed, she made her way down the steps.  
  
Chantel wore a violet colored robe and a light shade of eye shadow. Her hair was done up with a twist that ended at the back of her head. Lily gazed around and saw Chrissy following with a river blue robe, her hair in a messy look that somehow worked, and very heavy make up.  
  
All three girls walked in the Great Hall awaiting their dates (and friends) to arrive. After several minutes passed, the three boys sauntered in. Quite a few girls looked with longing half-smiles after James.   
  
James approached Lily and said, "May I have this dance?" Lily took his outstretched arm and   
followed him to the dance floor.  
  
James proved to be a very good dancer, despite Lily's fears. It was kind of nice, she thought, to be dancing with him. Her world seemed to be slowly rebuilding itself, now that someone seemed to truly understand and to want to be her friend. "Something interesting going on with your feet?" She teased.   
  
James, who had been staring down at his feet to make sure that they didn't trip over themselves, suddenly looked up. "Hmm?"   
  
"Never mind," Lily laughed. They kept dancing, her world seeming to come together one brick at a time with every note of the music. 

When the song ended, they walked back to the Gryffindor table.  "Want some punch?"  James offered.  

"Sure," she said.  

A third-year Hufflepuff girl came over, glaring at Lily.  "What do _you think you're doing with __James Potter?"  _

"We're just here as friends," Lily explained placidly.  

"Well, you're not _looking at him like you're just friends.  And let me spare you a world of disappointment, little girl.  He's out of your league.  For one thing…" _

Lily didn't feel like having her faults laid out for her.  "Thank you for your concern," she interrupted, "But I told you, James and I are just friends."  

The girl acquired a smirk that looked like she had just eaten a dozen lemons and rose her voice so that everyone within a ten-meter radius could hear.  "Hmm.  I just hope that a scrawny, uppity little self-righteous first year brat like you doesn't have high expectations.  It would be just terrible for you to get rejected.  I'm sure you would."  The girl's blatant cruelty left Lily speechless.  The older girl was just about to launch into another bitter tirade on Lily's self-esteem when she saw James coming from the other side of the Great Hall.  She smiled nastily.  "Have a lovely evening."  

Just like that, Lily's world fell back down.  She felt the tears start to well up behind her eyes, but she had just a shred of dignity left, and she wasn't about to destroy that by letting that Hufflepuff girl – or anyone else – see her sobbing.  Without even staying until James reached the table, she ran, she ran out the front door until she felt the cold night air grip her skin, sending chills throughout her body.  
  
Her mind turned into an irrational whirlwind, somehow connecting the girl's vicious insults to fault for her parents' deaths.  She _was uppity, she __was self-righteous, why else would she have almost started to get a crush on James?  And what made her think she could actually make it in the best school of witchcraft and wizardry in the country?  What made her even presume to answer the owl, to come here and distinguish her family to Voldemort?  Where did she get the gall to – _

"Lily?"  Her self-deprecating train of thought was halted when James called after her.  "Lily, what happened?"   
  


She turned around and looked straight at him.  Nothing.  Just friends, she thought with relief.  Only then could she calm down enough to answer.  "It's just…this Hufflepuff girl came over when you were getting us punch, and she sort of started making fun of me for no reason.  No reason I could think of, anyway."  

"Er…I think she might've been jealous.  I got a lot of invitations to this dance, y'know."  

"What?"  Now she felt even worse.  

James smiled bashfully.  "I'm not trying to be a show-off, but a lot of girls did ask me to this dance.  _After I asked you.  So, I think that girl was jealous of you.  Sorry."    
  
"That's fine." She took a shuddering breath and tried to calm down. "It's not your fault."     
  
"I'm still sorry." He shrugged, sitting down on a bench next to a marble fountain.  He hesitated, then spoke. "You ever been to Hogsmeade?"  
  
"Of course not!  I'm just a first year, remember? Only third years and up are allowed to go to Hogsmeade."  _

  
"What would you say if I told you that we could go there right now? Buy some things from   
Honeydukes?  Well, maybe not _buy, per se…"  
  
"Right now?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"How can you get there?"  
  
"I have a map...."_


	9. An Escape

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_(A/N): I want to note that I was off on my information on the last story (Lily was too young to go to a ball, etc.) Thank you dragon, for informing me! If I am inaccurate again, please notify me so that I can announce it or fix it.  This problem will be solved later on in the story.  Thanks!    
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 9_

  
  
"So what do you say?"   
  
"Well, I don't know...what if we get caught? We could get expelled! Where would I go? I'd have to live with Petunia!"   
  
"We won't get caught! Everyone will be sleeping in their dorms by the time we get back. Come on, nobody knows about the map except...well, hardly anybody knows about the map! And as for getting expelled? Sirius can talk his way out of anything, you know that. You really shouldn't be so uptight all the time."  
  
Lily thought about this for a moment. Maybe she was being a little too 'uptight'. "Okay, I'll come with you. But let me see the map first."  
  
James dug into his left pocket, pulling out a crumpled old piece of parchment. He tapped it with his wand and whispered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," As he handed it over to Lily, thin lines of ink trailed across it from nowhere in particular, revealing a bold heading emblazoned across the top.   
  
  


_Messrs. Remus, Peter, Sirius, and James  
Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers  
Are proud to present  
**The Marauder's Map  
  
  
**_

Lily watched in awe. The map pictured the school grounds and several corridors that she had never seen before.   
  
She jumped slightly as something moved. Tiny inkdots swerved across the map. Above a small dot, the words 'Mrs. Norris' followed along as the annoying cat paced up and down the castle halls.  
  
"The names still need to be changed – just incase anyone stumbles on it."  

"Well, why not use nick-names?  No one would know then."

"That's a good idea.  I'll talk to Sirius about it."  

Lily smiled and dropped her gaze back to the map.  "Do these extra corridors go to Hogsmeade?"      
  
"Yeah, look." James pointed to one that didn't have any ink dots near it. "This is the fourth floor. There's a mirror on this wall, but it swings to the side, and there's a passageway behind it."  
  
 "Let's take that one," Lily suggested. She gave a little shiver out of nerves. This wasn't anything like what she thought the night was going to be!   
  
"That's the only passageway that nobody's blocking. Good idea." James said. He motioned for Lily to follow him, and they edged along the wall out of the Great Hall, making their way to the fourth floor.   
  
Once they reached the mirror, James swung it aside, revealing a pitch-black entrance that looked something akin to the portrait hole.   
  


"Er, James?" Lily croaked.   
  
"What?"   
  
"Is that a cave in there?"   
  
"Yeah, why?"   
  
"Oh...no reason." She couldn't back out now, even though she was terrified of a cave-in or something. "After you." James jumped into the passageway and slid down, leaving Lily to hold the mirror aside.  
  
  


Why was she doing this? How did she let James talk her into doing this? She was WAY too gullible. What if the whole cave collapsed? What if there was some kind of creature living there? What if the passage had been closed up, or if someone in Hogsmeade had found a hole in their wall and boarded it up? She would be trapped! She and James would starve to death! Lily didn't tell Chrissy or Chantel where she was going! Nobody would know where they had gone if they went missing! Lily tried to calm herself down as her eyes followed the beam of light James's wand was emitting. The exit must be coming up close, she thought. In truth, however,it was nowhere in sight. She drew in her breath sharply as a rat crawled across her foot, sending a shiver through her body.   
  
As they walked through the cave, Lily had been hearing rustling noises coming from the ceiling. Another rat ran across the beam of light, around James, and up Lily's leg. She shrieked loudly and brushed it off. Immediately, James whipped around and put his hand over her mouth. "Shhhh! Don't be so loud!" It was too late. The cave's ceiling was suddenly alive with shrieks and tiny bright eyes.   
  
Bats spread their wings and dove for the source of the noise that had disturbed their sleep. For a terrified moment, James pointed his wand towards the mass of winged rodents, his hand still over Lily's mouth, then he bellowed, "RUN!" And bolted for the other end of the cave.   
  
Lily ran in the same direction, tripping over the hem of her dress and falling, twisting her ankle on a rock. "Help!" She screamed as the bats rained down on her, and, further along, James, their razor-sharp claws outstretched so that they would sink deep into the target's flesh when they hit.   
  
  


_(A/N): I am soooo sorry!  I left you a cliffhanger. Please review, though.  Thanks!   
  
  
  
**MERRY CHRISTMAS **__(HAPPY HOLIDAYS) AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!_


	10. The Calling

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2002

****

**Lily**

_Chapter 10_

  
  
  
James was picking up rocks and hurling them at the cloud of bats that was closing in on him and Lily. A few dull thuds rewarded his efforts as bats plunked to the ground.   
  
Lily winced, kicked off her shoes, and struggled to her feet. The bats were tearing at her hair and dress like crazy. She grabbed one of her shoes and threw it point-blank into the moving mass. All that resulted was a lost shoe, and she limped as fast as she could in the direction of the pool of light cast by James's wand. She fumbled for her wand, reaching up the sleeves of her dress, where she had kept it during the dance. When Lily finally succeeded in shaking it out onto the cave floor, a bat landed on it and started to carry it away. She lashed out at it and grabbed the wand protectively.   
  
The bat screeched and hopped away from the wand, but it didn't go away. It flew at her and sunk its claws into her left arm, slicing it to the bone. The bat was suddenly knocked to the ground. When Lily looked up, James was holding his wand aloft, as though he had just hit something with it. He extended a hand to her and yelled urgently, "Come on, we have to get out of here!"  
  
Lily couldn't get up. The loss of blood was making her too light-headed to even say "thank you." She took James's hand and tried to struggle to her feet, but a combination of the hundreds of wounds inflicted by the bat's claws and her twisted ankle made her fall back to the cold ground.   
  
Her senses dimmed, but she heard James curse and felt him heave her up by the arms and try to drag her along. She tried the best she could to hop along, but both of them knew that they weren't going to make it. Suddenly, James stumbled and fell flat on his face. The bats descended on them, not quite satisfied yet. Lily groped for her wand in the dark, pointed it in some direction she wasn't sure of, and yelled out a charm she had heard once. She knew it hadn't been said right, because her speech was slurred.   
  
There was an enormous _craaaack__.  The bats shrieked in panic and ceased their attack, giving James time to struggle upright and drag Lily somewhere...boulders falling...crashing noises...going up...blackness.  
  
  
  
When Lily had awakened, she felt bandages all over her body. She was lying in a soft, comfortable bed. She opened her eyes and recognized that she was in the Hogwarts Infirmary. Madam Pomfrey was at another bed, tending to another student.  
  
How did she get here? What had happened to James? What made the bats go away? Someone must have taken her out of the cave, but who? James! Where was he? What if he had pushed her through the passage entrance, but gotten crushed by a boulder?   
  
Lily panicked and sat bolt upright in her bed. Her head swam, but she looked over to the next bed. James was sitting there, arguing quietly with Madam Pomfrey as she tried to bandage his hand up. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. James was okay.   
  
There was a knock at the door. Madam Pomfrey opened it, revealing Peter, Sirius, Remus, Chantel, and Chrissy.   
  
Chrissy jumped up, looking over Madam Pomfrey's shoulder, and squealed,"Are you two okay?"  
  
The stern matron shook a finger at them. "Only __five minutes, no longer. These two have been through quite enough without you troubling them!"  
  
"Yes, Madam Pomfrey." All five responded. She disappeared into her office with a slam of the door.  
  
The visitors clustered into the space between the beds. "Jeez, you guys got scraped up pretty bad. Did Madam Pomfrey kiss your boo-boos and make it all better?" Sirius joked.   
  
James groaned. "Not funny, Sirius."   
  
_

"So, what happened?" Chantel was asking Lily, but James took it upon himself to explain.   
  
"Well, we were trying to get into Hogsmeade. We took this one passage that I'd heard about, but it turned out to be this creepy cave. A rat crawled up Lily's leg and she screamed, so we got attacked by a bunch of bats."   
  
Sirius punched Peter playfully on the arm. "Done any scurrying lately?"   
  
"What?" Lily asked, quite confused.   
  
"Nothing! Er, go ahead, James." Remus covered Sirius's tracks as best he could.   
  
"Yeah. Well, Lily tripped and fell, so I tried to help her out of the cave. We couldn't make it through all the bats, so Lily said this spell...I don't know what it was, but it blasted the ceiling apart. She passed out, and I dragged her out through the entrance. Then, I brought her down here."   
  
Remus looked somewhere between worried and angry. "You mean it's caved in?"   
  
"No. Believe it or not, it's still useable. Something must have stopped the rocks falling at some point, so there's a kind of tunnel underneath it. But I'll bet you anything that it's going to cave in sooner or later. Nobody should use it," He made a point of looking at Sirius. "NOBODY."   
  
Sirius saluted. "Yes, sir! Hey, Lily, James saved your life! I think that makes you obligated to call him 'my hero' for the rest of this year, at least!"   
  
"Knock it off, Sirius!" James shouted as Lily turned red.   
  
Madam Pomfrey barreled out of her office, shouting "OUT! YOU'VE BEEN IN HERE FOR OVER TEN MINUTES!"  
  
There was a scramble to escape Madam Pomfrey's wrath, and Chrissy, being the last one out, gave a very giggly "Bye!" as she closed the door.   
  
  
  
  
  
Lily and James were allowed to leave the Infirmary the next day. They had both missed a day of classes, so there was quite a bit to make up.   
  
One night, Lily was looking up information in the library for Transfiguration class. Lily wasn't really good at that subject. She worked very hard, but she could never quite manage it.   
  
No one else was in the library at the time, it was very quiet and peaceful, just as Lily liked it. When 11:30 came, Lily yawned and decided it was time to put her books away and go back to her dormitory. On the darkened journey out of the library, she heard her own footsteps echoing on the hard wooden floor. Though Madam Pince had even deserted her post at the front desk, preferring sleep, Lily felt like she wasn't quite alone. She shook it off. Probably just old memories of scary stories that Petunia had told her. Interesting, though, that all of those stories had been about witches and wizards.   
  
Suddenly, Lily heard the sound of someone breathing very close by. Her heart pounded with fear as her sweaty palm gripped her wand. The breath caught in her chest as she felt a hand on her shoulder, and a voice spoke.   
  
"Come with me Lily...Join me...the rewards will be great...Meet me in the Astronomy Tower on Thursday night..."  
  
Finally, the hand removed itself from her shoulder, and she started breathing again. That, she thought, could not have been her imagination.   
Maybe she was hearing things. Petunia had always told her that she was crazy, but Lily had to question whether taking Petunia's advice was a good idea. She convinced herself that all she needed was a good night's sleep, then the hallucination would go away.  
  
  
  
  
The next morning at breakfast, the voice haunted her again. She was sitting down between Chrissy and Chantel to eat her silver-dollar pancakes, when the high, spectral voice spoke the same lines. All other sounds dimmed in her ears.   
  
"Come with me, Lily.  Join me  and the rewards will be great.  Meet me in the Astronomy Tower on Thursday night."  
  
  
  


_(A/N): I hope that you liked this one. The next fic will be coming soon. Please review!_


	11. Reckless Response

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 11_

  
  
  
Lily's chair fell back. When her livid face appeared again, all of her friends at the table stared at her. "Are you okay?" Chantel asked concernedly.   
  
Lily wouldn't speak to anyone, she was afraid that they wouldn't believe her. They'd think that she was insane! She ran up to her dorm, not making eye-contact with anyone, on the way. When she reached the room, she flung open the door, slammed it shut, then sat down on her bed.  
  
She reached under her pillow, grabbed her diary and opened it to a fresh page. She didn't hesistate, she started scribbling all of her emotions, actions, and questions. Her diary was something that she could confide in; it wouldn't talk back to her, it wouldn't hurl questions at her, it would just soak in the ink from her pen.  
  
Her entry was something like this:  
  
  
Thursday  
  
Dear Diary,   
  
I think I am going crazy. A voice keeps haunting me. It's telling me to be in the Astronomy Tower tonight, and to join someone. It says that the rewards will be great, but how can something like this be so good if this person is sneaking around to tell me about it? Should I go there? Would it be too much of a risk? Who do you think it is? This is so confusing! I can't tell anyone about this. They'd probably ship me off to St. Mungo's as fast as they could.   
  
~Lily~  
  
  
  
  
  
That evening, Lily was preoccupied by her decision. She was split between curiosity and self-preservation. Maybe she could talk to someone in the common room...someone who wouldn't think she was crazy.   
  
Lily ran down the steps. James and Sirius were sitting at a table, playing Exploding Snap.   
  
Lily just stood there for a couple of minutes until she looked out the window. Dark. If she was going to go to the Astronomy Tower, now was the time. Lily started to walk quickly out of the room, until Sirius finally noticed her.  
  
"You're going pretty fast there, Lily. Where're you going?" He asked.  
  
"I have to meet someone tonight." She said shortly, not expecting any more questions.  
  
"Who is it?" Asked a curious James.  
  
"I don't exactly know." She said while her cheeks got very pink.  
  
"How're you supposed to meet him if you don't even know who he is? If I have a date, I like to know who I am going out with. Is it a blind date?"   
  
"It's NOT a date, James. I should've known that you two were going to be  
immature." And with that, Lily stomped out the portrait hole.   
  
James and Sirius felt bad, so after a few minutes, they went to go find Lily. They figured that she'd be in the Great Hall, but she was nowhere to be found. "Well, maybe she went back to her dorm while we were in the Great Hall," James suggested.   
  
They went back to the common room and up the girl's dormitory stairs. James opened the door and peered inside. Lily, of course, wasn't there, but there was a diary poking out from under her pillow. He knew that it would be a major invasion of Lily's privacy to read it, but it could contain something that would give them a clue as to why Lily had been acting so odd. James bent down and picked the diary up, flipping through the pages.   
  
"You really shouldn't be doing that, James." said Sirius.  
  
"But what if it has something that we should know about? Maybe it'll explain why she has been acting so..." Then James stopped. He had found Lily's diary entry from that morning. For a moment, he read it over, then tossed it back down on the bed. "Come on!" he called to Sirius as he ran out the door.   
  
Something bad was going to happen to Lily, they both knew it. The question was, what?  
  
  
_(A/N):  Short, I know.  I'll try and make the next one longer, I promise!_


	12. Voldemort

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2002

_Disclaimer: I own the plot, Chrissy and Chantel. _

****

**Lily**

_Chapter 12_

  
  
  
  
  
Lily peered at the entrance to the Astronomy Tower from a safe distance. She figured that if there was any danger, she was far enough to get away.  
  
A faint whimpering was coming from up ahead. Up ahead in the Astronomy Tower! Lily's mouth went dry with fear as she wondered what kind of creature could be waiting for her. What sense, though, was there in turning around? There had been something in the voice that threatened underneath the promises of great rewards, and anyway, what kind of person would wait until someone else was alone in the dark to talk with them?   
  
This train of thought left her breathless, her heart pounding at a painful rate. With no other option that she could think of, Lily took out her wand, drew in a deep breath, and started walking up the marble staircase.   
  
The voice shrilled through the cold night air again, "Come with me Lily.....the rewards will be great...All you have to do is just come with me......."  
  
Lily's hands were trembling so severely that, before she knew it, her wand was clattering down the darkened stairwell. Without her wand, Lily was defenseless. She turned around and started to run after her wand, but a cold hand grabbed her wrist, restraining her from motion. Her vision distinctly blurred with fear, she turned around and looked her spectral stalker in the face for the first time.   
  
All she saw was a tall, black-cloaked figure with a hood hiding the face. Another pale hand, this one clutching a wand tightly, reached up and pushed the hood back. The face was human yet inhuman, pale and thin. Suddenly, Lily gasped as she recognized the most terrifying trait on the wizard standing before her.   
  
His eyes were the bright, sickly red color of fresh blood.   
  
Red eyes...red eyes! It was Voldemort, the Dark Wizard who had murdered her parents! "What do you want from me?" She shrieked.   
  
"My dear Lily, isn't it obvious?" He said calmly, beckoning for her to follow, as though she hadn't any sort of choice in the matter.   
  
"What? Do you want to kill me, too?"   
  
He remained silent as she stumbled up the steps to a torch-lit landing. Two chairs were set up to the left, one on either side of a large cage. She caught her breath with a sob as she recognized the chairs' occupants: Chantel and Chrissy, her best friends, were tied with rough lengths of robe and gagged with rags of black fabric. Inside the cage was a snarling, raging beast that Lily had never seen before, but it still gave her a sinking feeling in her stomach to imagine the harm it could do to her...or her friends.  
  
Voldemort smiled at her with a smile as cold as midnight in the dead of winter. "Comfortable, Lily?"   
  
She looked at him, somewhere between astonishment and wariness. Her two best friends were   
bound and gagged immediately to her left, flanking some horrible beast. She had no idea why she was here or what Voldemort wanted from her, and he asked whether she was comfortable? What sick kind of game was he playing?   
  
"Here," he conjured up a huge, light green armchair against the wall opposite Chrissy and Chantel. "Have a seat." Again, as though she had any choice in the matter, he gestured towards it, then threw her down onto it. "Now. To business."   
  
  
  
  
James and Sirius raced along the corridor to the Astronomy Tower. Lily was heading for danger, that much was obvious. Sirius wrenched open the door and started to run up the stairs at top speed. James caught him by the arm. "What are you, an idiot? Anyone would hear you running like that!"   
  
"Sorry." He followed James, inching along the wall and taking a cautious glance around the landing when he heard the voice speaking.   
  
"Lily..." Voldemort began. "You are a very powerful and valuable witch, and I have an offer for you. Side with me. Your power and magical aptitude will take you far...if you side with me."   
  
Lily's response was immediate. "No! I'll never be a Death Eater!"   
  
A twisted smile curved across the Dark Lord's face. "That's quite too bad. I imagine you would have answered differently had I finished explaining the terms." As he spoke, he walked across the room to where Chrissy was sitting, her blue eyes wide with fear. "If you choose to be against me, you lose, Lily. But you're not the only one who loses." He snapped his fingers, and the ropes binding Chrissy slid to the ground and dispelled like snakes. "So do your friends."   
  
The cage opened.


	13. Lily's Descision

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_(A/N): Be prepared to be shocked in this fic. I hope to have a **VERY long series, but also keep you interested. If you have any ideas or comments, please ****REVIEW! Thank you so much for those who have been reviewing my previous fics, I hope you enjoy this one.  
  
  
****Lily**_

_Chapter 13_

  
  


"Too late," Voldemort repeated. It was like a chant as he dragged Chrissy's chair over in front of the cage. "Too late, Lily, too late.  For you and your friends, it's too late."  
  
Lily tried to get up out of the armchair, to protect Chrissy in some way, but it was no use. The chair must have been cursed! All Lily and Chantel could do as the horrible beast came into view was scream and cry, struggling against their bonds.   
  
With a sick feeling developing in the pits of their stomachs, Sirius and James realized the monster's true identity as it came hurtling out of its cage at the helpless girl. "No!" James yelled at the top of his lungs, throwing himself up the stairs, between Chrissy and Remus, despite Sirius's grip on the back of his shirt.   
  
Sirius watched the horrific scene at the top of the stairs through wide eyes: James lashing out at the out-of-control Remus to defend his and Chrissy's lives, Lily struggling to get out of the pale green armchair with tears of frustration pouring down her face, and Chantel somewhere between sobbing and screaming in terror at her best friend's massacre. Finally, Lord Voldemort, laughing as thought it was just all good fun. Sirius turned and ran down the stairs in search of a teacher who might be able to help.   
  
Suddenly, Voldemort screamed a powerful spell at Remus, who was blasted back into the cage. Terrified, confused glances were exchanged between  
Lily and Chantel as Voldemort turned to Lily. He whispered that only she could hear before he vanished. "Soon...we'll meet again...and next time, nobody will be there to protect you."   
  
In the silence that followed, the group assembled on the landing heard the sound of two people climbing the stairs hurriedly. Voldemort must have noticed that sound far before everyone else.   
  
James looked up at the Chrissy's limp form. There was ruby-red blood seeping from numerous wounds covering her still, ivory body. He reached for her wrist, praying to feel even the slightest pulsing of life. James put his face in his trembling hands. He should have been able to block her better, but no, her life was over now. It was all his fault! How could he have let this happen? He wanted to cry, he wanted to cry forever. And he would have, too. The tears began to flow, but then Dumbledore arrived. Just the thought of Dumbledore present relieved James's frief. Dumbledore would make everything right again, he would fix all of the night's terror.  
  
"Oh, no..." Fear reflected in the Headmaster's sapphire eyes as they surveyed the scene. "Is everyone all right?"   
  
Sirius skirted to Dumbledore's side and looked at what had happened since he had left. "No," he said. "I don't think anyone here is all right."   
  
Madam Pomfrey rushed up and bent over to inspect the wolf.  Right away she recognized him and brought him down to the Hospital Wing to be   
treated.  
  
When she came back up, Sirius was untying the trembling Chantel.  James had sunk to his knees and didn't have the strength to stand up, emotionally or physically. There were clawmarks raking his arms and chest, all bleeding terribly. His right arm was covered in blood, with two claws actually stuck in the flesh. He just stayed kneeling at Chrissy's side, wondering why he hadn't acted more quickly.   
  
Dumbledore crossed to Lily and removed the curse on the chair, allowing her to get up. She ran over to Chrissy and wept bitterly.   
  
"Lily, please don't cry. There might be enough life left in her yet...enough life to save her."  
  
Madam Pomfrey conjured up two stretchers, one for James and one for Chrissy, and led a grave procession down the stairs to the Infirmary.  
  
When they arrived, the five students were put in beds and administered sleeping potions. None felt strong enough to resist sleep, and so they gave in to its dark mists.   
  
  
When Lily awoke the next morning, she groggily looked around. Still five beds occupied, but something was wrong. There was Sirius, and James, and Chantel, and...Remus!   
  
Remus was also asleep, but thrashing around. It was obvious that he was having a nightmare. "I didn't...I didn't mean to..." he kept repeating that over and over again.   
  
James was awake, too, sitting bolt upright in his bed. Tears were streaming silently out of his puffy eyes, coursing down his cheeks and trying to wash away the blood that stained his robes.   
  
"James..." Lily started.  
  
"It was all my fault! I should've blocked her better!" He choked out through sobs.  
  
"James, nothing was your fault."  
  
"But I could've saved Chrissy! I was a SECOND too late!"  
  
"You heard Dumbledore! They might be able to revive her! There's still hope, she's going to be okay!"  
  
"No, Lily. People aren't okay, not even in the wizarding world, they aren't okay when they're not breathing, and their hearts aren't beating, and they - and they look like ghosts. Chrissy's dead."  
  
"But Dumbledore said....." She couldn't finish, salty tears stung her eyes until she had to close them in pain.   
  
First her parents, now her friend. Who was next? Why did Voldemort choose her? What had she ever done to deserve this?   
  
  
_(A/N): Sorry, but it is getting late and I have to end it now. I will write the next one hopefully soon! Please don't get mad at me for making Chrissy die. It just was another one of my wierd ideas. In my next fic I will include the conversation that Lily and Dumbledore will have.  
  
Please review! No flames please! Thank you! I hope you enjoyed.  
  
**Disclaimer: **__Do we really have to put one of these in? Well, I own Chantel, Chrissy and the plot, everything else belongs to J. K.   
Rowling. _


	14. Dumbledore's Office

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 14  
  
_

For a time, Lily sat in the Infirmary, completely shocked at what James had said. Chrissy? Dead? It didn't make any sense that Voldemort was trying to hurt everyone she loved!   
  
"Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore was standing in the doorway. "May I have a word with you in my office?"   
  
"S-sure, Professor." He led her through the corridors, but it was like walking across a half-dream. Nothing seemed too real, as though a mirrored mist had been draped over the castle, making her doubt what her eyes saw. Before she knew it, Lily was standing in the Headmaster's office.   
  
"Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable." Dumbledore said her with a mirthless smile.   
  
She walked over to a small, burnished oak chair and sat down uneasily, noticing a rather extraordinary bird in a golden cage nearby. Then, Dumbledore started talking.   
  
"I think we'd better have a talk. Remember that if you ever have a problem - or a hard, life-threatening decision to make - you can always find me somewhere around and ask me for my advice. The same goes for all of the students here. I've been known to have a good ear or two when someone needs it." Then, he grew a little more serious. "There is one thing in particular that I am curious about.  Did Voldemort happen to mention any ultimatums? Any reasons that he had set this trap?"   
  
"No, I asked him what he wanted, and he just said, 'Isn't it obvious?'"  
  
"Are you certain?"   
  
Lily thought hard, though she wasn't in any sort of mood to remember the previous night. "I think...I think he told me that I was a very powerful witch, but that's-"  
  
Dumbledore nodded.  "Lord Voldemort senses great magical potential in you, Miss Evans. You are a Muggle-born, are you not?"   
  
"Right."   
  
"Voldemort is possessed by an incredible hatred of Muggles and...their offspring," he said, almost apologetically. "Quite interesting, considering that he is a half-blood himself. As a matter of fact, it was his scorn for his Muggle father that brought him to believing that all Muggles were disgusting and unreliable. A lie, as most sane wizards know. So, he sees a Muggle-born such as you, without a drop of magic blood in your family's veins, and he recognizes your power.  That frightens him. He knows that if there is some Muggle-born of great power, that witch or wizard will attempt to defeat him. If  
there is one thing that man cannot accept, it is defeat."   
  
Lily's eyes were wide. "How do you know so much about him?"   
  
"You have heard that he attended Hogwarts, of course? I was Transfiguration professor under Armando Dippet. He was a brilliant student, but with too much unchecked hate and anger in him. If he had not turned to the Dark Arts, the things he could have accomplished for wizardkind..." Dumbledore shook his head sadly, his eyes closed.  "Is this making any sense?"   
  
"A little. But why isn't he just going after me? Why is he trying to beat down all of the people I love?"   
  
"Voldemort is a very sick person. Simply defeating you wouldn't be enough for him, especially after you defied him as you did last night.  I suppose that killing your parents was merely supposed to be a warning of some sort, or a threat." The silver-bearded old wizard took a deep breath and seemed to be looking for the right words.  "He wants to hurt your heart first. He wants to tear down your moral supports, your friends and family. It is natural for people to put their faith in each other, that's what love is. By taking away those people who you love, Voldemort is taking away your faith in people.  He's trying to single you out, and I'm sure you've heard that there's strength in numbers."   
  
Lily sat on the hard chair, motionless. Voldemort's succeeding, she thought to herself. He's got me right where he wants me, and sooner or later I'm going to be completely alone...What can I do?  What can I possibly do?!? To Lily's amazement, she asked the question aloud without realizing it.  
  
"There is really nothing you can do. You'll be safe, as long as you are on Hogwarts grounds."  
  
"But can't he Apparate or Disapparate? He did last night!"   
  
"Not anymore. I asked Professor Flitwick to Charm the grounds against Apparation and Disapparation. There might be some side effects...grass not being quite the right color, that sort of thing."   
  
The idea of a garden full of purple grass was just enough to make Lily smile slightly. Dumbledore smiled back. "Turn to your friends.  Chantel, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, they would all be willing to comfort you in a hard time. Keep your faith in the good of wizardkind, and stay as good as you are now." There was a kind of finality in his tone that made it clear that the talk was over. As she left the room, he called softly after her, "Christina's funeral will be this Saturday."   
  
She nodded without turning around and started to make her way back to the Infirmary.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
When she finally got there, Remus had awakened, but James was asleep again. Remus was pale as a ghost, with wild fear in his eyes.   
  
"Why did I do it?" He asked, not to anyone in particular. He started pounding the pillow violently.   
  
"My mom always said, 'it's better to talk, not act.'" Lily eyed the pillow, which now had its feathers floating about the room.  
  
"Well, punching something has always helped me." he said, obviously not interested in childhood sayings.   
  
"Do you want to talk about anything?"  
  
"Let's think. I just murdered someone. Someone is dead because of me.  There is a girl whose parents will never see her again, because of me.  
This is the kind of thing they throw people in Azkaban for! No, I don't want to talk about it! I'm a murderer, they'll put me in Azkaban!" His voice rose with panic.   
  
"No, they won't! You're NOT a murderer!"   
  
"How am I going to live with this guilt? I KILLED ONE OF MY FRIENDS!!!"  He screamed, looking terribly scared of himself.  
  
"You didn't kill her! Voldemort is the guilty one! If it wasn't for him, you would have spent last night in the Shack, not hurting anyone!"  
  
"Do you really think so?"  
  
"Yes. Go back to sleep, please, you'll feel so much better."   
  
Remus didn't need to be told twice.  
  
  
  
  
  
When Lily was certain that Remus was sleeping, she looked around.  James had woken up and was sitting up in his bed, reading a book.   
  
"What are you reading?" She asked.  
  
"Oh...nothing." He closed it up and put it under his pillow quickly, but not before Lily got a glimpse of the words, 'Advanced Transfiguration.'   
  
"You, doing schoolwork when you don't have to? There's a first."   
  
"I know, I just want to keep my mind off of Chrissy...I guess." He poked the book further under his pillow and avoided her gaze.   
  
"At least you tried to save her, James. That was really the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do." Lily tried to give him a reassuring smile.   
  
"Does it matter how brave someone is if they never do anything right with being brave?"  
  
She tried to change the subject. "Did Madam Pomfrey get you something for all those cuts?"  
  
"Well, she pointed to a bottle of something and said that I had to rub it on the cuts. When I did, it made me sprout these stupid little flowers all over..." He brushed some of the white, bell-shaped blossoms off of the bed irritably. "I looked like a garden. Then she comes in and tells me that I was supposed to use the bottle on the left, not on the right. Luckily, she had some pruning shears handy."   
  
Lily picked up a handful of the tiny flowers, which she noticed were piled next to James's bed, and threw it at him. He threw one back, and soon they were having a little flowerfight. That is, until Madam Pomfrey thundered out of her office and shooed Lily away.   
  
"Out! I can't have you in here disrupting my patients! Go to your common room and play Exploding Snap or something. You know, that game's liable to burn your..." The chatter followed Lily down the hallway.   
  
Lily found Chantel and Sirius in the Common Room and called "Chantel, I'll meet you up at the dorm, okay?"  
  
"Sure, I'll be up in about ten minutes!"  
  
  
  
  
Lily climbed the staircase, feeling lonely and exhausted. She wasn't a powerful witch, or at least, she didn't feel that way now. She certainly couldn't conquer Voldemort, , so why would he want to hurt her? Of course, Dumbledore had a theory, but the question was, how right was he?   
  
She collapsed onto her bed, her eyes sore and her heart tired. Quite enough had happened for one day.   
  
A very disconcerting dream pervaded her sleep. She, James, and her parents and grandparents were trapped inside a thin glass wall. There was a boy watching them from outside it, a boy with messy black hair, green eyes, and a thin scar on his forehead. Tears sprang to Lily's eyes, because she wanted to get through the glass to the boy. The boy obviously wanted to get through the glass to her, too, but it was no use, the glass was too strong a barrier. She leaned up against the glass and tried to push through, but it stayed fast until she lost her balance and fell through darkness....  
  
And where was this? The Hogwarts Library! But she felt lighter than usual... When Lily looked down at her own hand, it was shimmering white and transparent, like that of a ghost! Suddenly, a book on the table in front of her opened to a page with a green ribbon marking it.  She bent to read. It was an entry about...her! "It is believed by some of the greatest magical historians of our day that Lily Evans held a crucial type of magic in her that was necessary to defeat Lord Voldemort. It seems, however, that only after that magic was combined with another type of magic was the Dark Lord overthrown." Beside these sentences was a picture of a petite, red-haired woman holding a tiny baby boy and smiling.   
  
  
  
  
  
At 11:OO pm, Lily was awaken by a hyper Chantel.  
  
"Lily! Lily! You're never going to believe this! Wake up!"  She roared.  
  
"Whaaa.....what do want?" Lily asked, very sleepily. She remembered a book, and a glass wall, but nothing else.   
  
"I'm sorry, but I've got something INCREDIBLE to tell you!" Chantel said, making an effort to be more quiet.  
  
Lily lacked her friend's enthusiasm for the subject. "What is it?"   
  
"James and Sirius and Peter are doing this really really hard Transfiguration spell, we're talking only full-fledged wizards are supposed to do this, and they're going to be able to turn into animals! Sirius said they're going to be Animagi or something like that, and he wants to be a dog!" Chantel obviously felt the need to add that little tidbit, quite matter-of-factly. "Oh, yeah, and Remus? He's a-"  
  
"A werewolf. I knew that, but I didn't know that they were trying to become Animagi. How are they keeping it a secret?"   
  
Chantel put her hands on her hips. "Lily. You must know by now that the Marauders can pretty much do anything they want."   
  
"Oh! Marauders, the Marauders Map...that's them, isn't it?"  
  
"Yah."   
  
"Right...Listen, Chantel, can we please please please talk about this tomorrow? It's really late, and I'm tired."   
  
"Sure, maybe you can ask James about it?"  
  
"Yeah...maybe...." Then she dozed off, wondering if she'd have any more dreams this time.   
  
  


_(A/N: I am sorry, I forgot to add that the Christmas Holidays were taking place while Lily started hearing voices. When Chrissy's funeral takes place, that is when everyone will be returning. Sorry again about that, I guess I got too caught up in the plot of the last few stories that I forgot to add it in.)   
  
  
  
 _


	15. Grief

**Lily**

_Chapter 15_

(A/N): Thank you for those people who have been reviewing, I loooovvveee reviews.  
  
  
  
  
  
Lily sobbed uncontrollably. She lifted her gaze and looked around at the crowd of students gathered in the Great Hall for Chrissy's funeral. Since her death, Chantel and Sirius seemed to have gotten closer. Sirius had been very sensitive, quite unlike his usual self.  
  
Dumbledore stood up at the Head Table and cleared his throat.  "As you all know, there was a death at Hogwarts two nights ago. This was an extraordinary happening, not only in its devastating quality, but in the sense that Christina Lindon Johnson was murdered by Voldemort." Murmurs arose throughout the Hall, all full of fear of the name as well as the person. "She was a wonderful student, a caring person, and...and a good friend." Dumbledore's crystalline gaze lingered on the Gryffindor table, where Chantel was crying into Sirius's shoulder, and tears were flowing down Lily's cheeks.   
"She would have gone far in life, to be sure. To Chrissy." He raised his own golden goblet, and the students followed suit, the metal reflecting the dancing candlelight in an immortal toast to Chrissy's soul.   
  
When the ceremony was over, Dumbledore approached Lily and Chantel.  "Professor McGonagall found something by Miss Johnson's bed that may  
be of interest to you both. It is addressed to you," he said softly as he handed them an envelope. In blue ink on the front was written "To Chantel and Lily."  
  
Lily's hands as she hastily opened the letter. Chantel read over Lily's shoulder.   
  
  


~*~*~

Dear Chantel and Lily,  
  
I don't know why, or how, but I feel like I'll be leaving soon.  Please don't cry over me. By the time you get this, it'll probably be too late...so I order you to stop crying! It won't do any good, it won't bring my soul back to my body. We'll see each other again, I swear it.   
  
Tell my parents what happened, the complete truth, and tell James that it wasn't his fault. I don't know what he could have done just yet, but I know that my fate was decided by someone else.   
  
Look after yourselves. Stay together forever, and never leave each other's sides. There's more value in friendship than you could ever know. Live life to the fullest, I've just realized the value of it.  Never be scared, because I'm watching over you as your guardian angel.

  
Good-bye, I love you both as though you were my sisters.   
  
Forever,  
  
Chrissy  
  
  
                                                                                                         ~*~*~  
  
  
Before anyone knew it, the end of the school year had come. Lily, Chantel, Sirus, Peter, James, and Remus had all passed with flying colors, although Peter's Transfiguration grade was a little low. The students were once again assembled in the Great Hall, this time for the awards ceremony and end-of-the-year banquet.   
  
To Gryffindor's sorrow, their Quidditch team had lost AGAIN, defeated by Slytherin. And, by some miracle, Slytherin had also won the House Cup, so the Great Hall was decorated in shimmering green and silver.  
  
Lily saw James scowl when Dumbledore mentioned the Slytherins' victory. "Shame," he said acidly. "It was such a nice banquet before he brought THEM into it."   
  
Sirius nodded and growled darkly, "They cheated at that Quidditch final, I know they did!"   
  
"Nothing we can do about it, though," Remus chimed in. "Why is it that people who are such idiots can possibly figure out a way to cheat  
so that the referee can't catch them?"   
  
"Well, they must not be such idiots, then," Peter calculated. However, this remark got him nothing but searing glares from his three friends  
(and every other Gryffindor within earshot).   
  
"Who asked you?"  
  
"Maybe you'd rather go sit with them?"   
  
"Yeah, go ahead, here comes one of them now."  
  
Peter turned around fearfully to see a tall, gangly Slytherin second year standing directly behind him. "Er...hello."  
  
The Slytherin boy jerked his head in greeting and smiled thinly at James. "Well, hello. I'm Severus Snape, you might remember me from the Quidditch Final...remember, I was the one who outflew you and caught the Snitch from right in front of your nose before you even noticed it?" His smirk broadened as his eyes roved over James's narrowing eyebrows and clenched jaw. "Isn't it just a crying shame that Gryffindor lost again? You haven't won in decades!"   
  
James leapt up from his seat and approached Severus, rolling up the sleeves of his own robes. Before James could wring his neck, however, Lily stood up, pushed James back down, and stuck her hand out congenially in one fluid motion. "Hello, my name is Lily Evans.  I'm a first year, and I don't have any older brothers or sisters, so I'm not too familiar with all the people here...tell me, are all Slytherins this badly groomed, or is it just you?" This last question   
was delivered with the same politeness and innocent curiosity that one would expect from a little girl inquiring as to what a swear word meant.   
  
With that, Snape walked off, a look of utter disgust on his face.   
  
"Wow, Lily! You really put him back in his place!" James said, sounding quite dazzled.   
  
"No, it was really nothing. That guy really needs to take a shower, if you ask me."   
  
Dumbledore stood up and addressed the students. "I would like to wish you all a lovely, mind-numbing summer. You'll all have sufficient time to forget everything that you've been taught in the past few months, I hope. On a less happy note, I am required by the Ministry of Magic to distribute these." He waved his wand, and a slip of paper appeared at each place setting. As Lily picked up and read hers, Dumbledore quoted directly from it. "Any use of magic by underage wizards during the summer holiday will be detected by the Ministry of Magic and punished in a moderately severe fashion.  
  
"For those of you approaching your third year, you will receive a permission slip. We need the permission of your parents to allow you to visit the village of Hogsmeade on scheduled weekends. If, at the beginning of next year, you don't have it signed, you will not be allowed to go. No exceptions." He smiled apologetically at everyone. "All right, finish up your meal. The Hogwarts Express is leaving in ten minutes, and we don't want anyone to be left behind, now do we?"  
  
Lily suddenly realized something. In the tumult of students that began to boil around the Great Hall, each one trying to exit before the other, she approached the Headmaster. "Professor, can I talk with you?"   
  
"Certainly, Lily. What seems to be the problem?"  
  
"I was wondering where I'm going to stay this summer. I mean..."  
  
"Ah, I apologize! I forgot to tell you. There is a very nice family who will take you in for the summer. The father is involved with the Ministry, and he heard of your confrontation with the Dark Lord. Evidently, he admired your bravery."   
  
Lily shivered at the reference to Voldemort as the 'Dark Lord.' It made him sound so frighteningly powerful. "Am I going to be safe?"  
  
"I have no doubt that the Potters will be able to protect you."  
  
"The Potters? As in James Potter?"  
  
"Yes, he lives with his father, his mother died a few years back."   
  
"Oh," she said, not quite certain what exactly to think of it. "Okay, I have to go and get on the train. Good-bye, Professor."   
  
She walked away, but she didn't notice the mischievous glint in Dumbledore's eyes. There is definitely something, he thought, between Lily and that Potter boy.   
  
  
  
  
Lily grabbed some books out of her trunk and dragged it to the Hogwarts Express, where the giant, Hagrid, heaved it over to the luggage compartment. She was standing and waving gratefully after the huge man when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to see James standing there. "Oh, hi! Did Dumbledore tell you?"   
  
"Yeah. We've all got a compartment settled in the train. Come on!"  
  
Lily followed him and sat down in the compartment. Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Chantel greeted she and James as they entered.  "What book is that, Lily?" asked Chantel.  
  
"It's called 'The Brave Little Toaster.' It's really good. Want to read it?"   
  
"Sure, thank you." Chantel flipped to the first page eagerly and started reading.   
  
While Chantel was reading, the others started talking about nothing in particular. They made plans to beat Slytherin out for the House Cup the next year at all costs. They played Gobstones and Exploding Snap, the Marauders thought up more pranks to play on hapless teachers, and Sirius and James had a rather exhilarating sword fight with their wands.   
  
Before they knew it, they had arrived at Platform 9 3/4. They all promised to keep in contact through the summer, and to send lots of owls.   
  
When Lily and James went through the barrier, a tall man was waiting.  He had the same nose as James. Lily couldn't see the man's hair; it was  
covered by a baseball cap, worn backwards. He wore some crazy-looking bell-bottoms, a tie-dyed silk shirt, and some "peace" necklaces.   
  
"So, this must be Miss Lily Evans. Nice to meet you."  
  
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Potter."   
  
"Dad?" Asked an uncomfortable James.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Why are you dressed like that?"   
  
"I was reading Muggle books, and it said that this is the new fashion," He said matter-of-factly.  
  
Lily burst out laughing, buying her a dirty look from a very red James. "Oh, come on, James, you've got to admit that it's kind of funny."  
  
"Yeah, but what kind?" James grumbled.   
  
Mr. Potter laughed heartily, put one arm around Lily's shoulders, and the other around James's. As they walked up to the street, Lily  
thought of what an interesting summer this promised to be.   
  
  
(A/N): In my next fic, I will have the summer with James, Lily, and James' very out-there, dad. I hope you enjoyed this fic.   
  
Disclaimer: I own Chantel, (Chrissy, if you can count her), and the plot.


	16. Lily's Flying Experience

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 16_

  
  
  
  
  
Mr. Potter had brought along three brooms as a means of transportation back to the Potter's house. As soon as he had taken them out, Lily's stomach had started churning. Besides the fact that she couldn't fly for beans, she was terrified of heights. But she wasn't about to mention that, especially not in front of James; it would be all over the school before she   
knew it. Lily just resolved to not look down and to hang on tight.   
  
After they mounted the brooms and started soaring over London, she began to put her two resolutions in perspective: The hanging on tight part was easy, since her hands seemed to be too terrified to come off of the broom handle, but it was quite a different story to keep her eyes to the front.   
  
They had barely been in the air for five minutes when Lily's willpower petered out to nothing, and she couldn't resist a quick peek down. At that exact moment, her nerves electrified with fear. The top of Big Ben looked as small as the dot at the end of a sentence, and the Channel was nothing but a bluish-green thread! With a frightened squeak, she lost her balance and rolled upside-down on the broomstick.   
  
For a second or two, she hung there like a sloth, completely stuck. Then, Mr. Potter flew up beside her and (to Lily's vast amazement) took BOTH hands off of his own broomstick and maintained his balance while helping Lily upright. Murmuring a very embarrassed "thank-you" to him, she slowed her speed until she was the farthest back of the three. Luckily, James was in front of her and hadn't seen her lack of flying skill.   
  
The trio flew on for about a half hour more until the next disaster took place. Lily was getting tired, between the constant, steady whooshing of the wind in each ear and her tight grip on the broom lessened. Yawning quietly, she rubbed her eyes with the back of one hand until she realized her terrible mistake. "Ahh! Help!" Lily's attempts at reaching   
the broom handle was to no prevail. Finally, with one courageous idea, she swung her upper body forward and clutched the wood with white knuckles. "Are you okay?" James had seen it.  
  
"Yeah," Lily raked her hair with her fingers, "I'm fine."  
  
"Whatever you say." James turned, his back towards her once again.  
  
"Lily? Have you ever had flying lessons?" Mr. Potter's asked.  
  
"Um, kinda."  
  
"Doesn't Hogwarts teach flying during the first year?"   
  
"Yeah, but I could only straddle the broom." Lily's cheeks tinted a rosy color.  
  
"Oh, well then, I'll just have to teach you."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Is this _really your house?"  
  
"Yeah. Now this is the bathroom," James pointed to a room down the hall, "That's the kitchen, the living room, my dad's office, and-"  
  
"And this's only one floor?" Lily traced the texture and makeup of the two vast marble-and-gold staircases up ahead. "Wow."  
  
"And all the bedrooms are upstairs, plus a couple more bathrooms." He continued.   
  
"Where's my room?" She grabbed her trunk by the handle.  
  
"Um, you'll be taking one of the guest rooms upstairs."   
  
The "guest room" in question looked more like a master bedroom.  The hunter-green blankets were at least eight inches thick, the bed frame was of ornately carved cherrywood with magical roses in a vase on the matching bedside table.  Yet another matching article, a tall chest of drawers, was nestled into an alcove in the wall to her left.  Lily crossed the room to peer out the gauzily curtained window, but quickly stepped back when her fear of heights kicked in.  She turned around and saw James and Mr. Potter, wearing identical anticipatory expressions, as if to say 'well? What do you think?"_

"I love it," Lily declared.    
  
  
  
  
  
  


  
  
Lily was wakened the next morning by an abrupt hand, shaking her back and forth.  
  
"Five more minutes, PLEASE???!!!!" Lily begged. The warmth of her bed made Lily want to harbor there forever. She buried herself under the thickness of the blankets. Shaking her head no, Lily refused to get up.  
  
"No-can-do. Your first flying lesson starts today. Get dressed and meet us down in the kitchen for some breakfast."  
  
"Fine." She groaned as James closed the door on his way out. Lily brushed her hair down and dressed in Muggle clothing. She walked down the staircase carefully and sat herself down at the breakfast table. "Hi."   
  
"Why, hello Lily." Mr. Potter bubbled cheerily as he set a plate in front of her. She looked across the table at James. He was almost through with his pancake and had already eaten his bacon and eggs. Lily glanced quickly at her food and suddenly her hunger faded away. She picked up her glass and took three sips of orange juice before wiping her   
mouth with the back of her hand.   
  
James cleared his throat as he stood. "I'm done. I'll go get the brooms out of the shed."  
  
Mr. Potter nodded. "Are you ready for your first lessons?"   
  
"I guess." A whirl of nervous birds circled and spun in her stomach.   
  
  
  
  
"Okay, straddle the broom." James ordered, modeling the position, "Then kick off with your feet."   
  
"Okay," Lily placed a shaking hand on the handle and hooked one leg over the opposite side. "Like this?"  
  
"Perfect." Mr. Potter said from the air. "Now, on the count of three, try to jump into the air, bringing your feet off the ground."  
  
"One!" She let go of the wood and brushed the sweat off her palm with her clothes.  
  
"Two!" Lily closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on anything but the next number.  
  
"Three!"   
  
She bounced off the ground and flew a foot into the air.   
  
"Hey! This isn't so bad!" She yelled up to Mr. Potter, who was giving her the 'thumbs up'  
motion.  
  
"Dad?"   
  
"Yes, James?"   
  
"What's that beeping sound?"  
  
"Oh-that's my emergency caller!" He fumbled through his pocket to withdraw a blinking  
object.   
  
"What is it?" Lily was confused. It almost looked like a wand.  
  
"The Ministry of Magic has an emergency and I've gotta get down there." Mr. Potter turned his broom to the left and shouted over his shoulder, "Behave, I'll probably be back in no time!"


	17. The Thing That 'Never Happened'

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_A/N- I think you've been waiting for this one for a while....well, most of you, anyways.  
  
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 17_

__

__

  
  
Mr. Potter flew off, much to Lily's confusion. James just smiled and shrugged. "That happens all the time. Sort of odd, though...He usually doesn't get called in on Saturdays." he shrugged again and flew down to the ground, setting off for the house.   
  
Lily stopped staring off in Mr. Potter's direction and snapped her head around when she heard the door to the house close behind James. "Oh, boy." She filled up her lungs with air and shouted. "_JAAAAAMES! GET YOUR REAR END BACK OUT HERE NOW! IT'S NOT VERY NICE TO LEAVE A LADY WHO HAPPENS TO ALSO BE A GUEST UP IN THE...AIR! Oh, this is so not normal." Her voice rather lost from screaming so loudly, she remembered that pointing the broom handle downwards makes you go down. "O.k, mr. broom, can you be nice and not throw me off? Thank you." She put one finger on the handle and poked gently, expecting the broomstick to plummet to the earth, leaving her no more than a spot on the lawn.   
  
Nothing happened.  
  
"You know, it's o.k. to let me down, too," she muttered to the broom. This time she poked a little harder. It dipped a little bit, making Lily flail her arms for balance, but nothing happened. "Hello? Do you speak English? When I do this-" she put both her hands on the broom handle- "You're supposed to do this!" she pushed down with all her might in frustration and found herself breaking the sound barrier as she flew through the air and almost hit the ground. Luckily, James had finally gotten a clue and was waiting out there for her. He reached out an old broomstick and broke her fall. As she tumbled a foot down to the ground, he roared with laughter.   
  
"You screeched, O milady?" he said mockingly. "Thou belongst in a mental institution, methinks, talking to a broomstick..." he broke off nervously as Lily made ready to kick his shins.  "Um...let's go make lunch or something." He held out a hand to help her up, but she simply stood up on her own and brushed past him as though he wasn't there.  
  
When he finally caught up with her in the house, she was standing loftily at the counter, spreading peanut butter on a sandwich. He noticed that she had only made one. "O.k..." he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. "One for me?"  
  
There was no response, only a glare from Lily that could have frozen the sun.   
  
"Guess not." So he set about making his own sandwich. Before long, Lily came up to the counter and walked over to the napkins.  
  
James just stood, spreading the jelly, and he suddenly heard her voice behind him. "James?"  
  
He turned around quickly. "Yes?" The world went white as Lily hit him full in the face with a handful of flour. "__Jeez!" he reached for the only possible ammunition, which happened to be the open jelly jar. A handful of purple flew across the room, just missing Lily's ear.   
  
She laughed at him. "Haha! Nice try, Potter!" the gob of grape jelly was lobbed back at him, landing right on top of his head. "That was for making fun of me!"  
  
He ducked down behind the counter and grabbed two handfuls of flour. Since he knew the kitchen better than Lily did, he knew that he could crawl around back of Lily and she'd still be watching the counter, waiting for when he would pop up. Two globs of flour later and Lily looked like a ghost. "You ingrate!"   
  
"Come on, Lily, have a little fun! Look, if it makes you feel better, here." he strode over to the flour bag again and mashed three handfuls into his own hair and face. "Is that o.k. now?"   
  
"I guess," said Lily, walking over to stand next to him. "Maybe it would feel better if..."  
  
"If what?"  
  
She heaved the entire contents of the flour sack at him. "If I did it myself!"  
  
This just couldn't be forgiven. They both grabbed handfuls of the newly-fallen flour as if it was snow and hurled it at each other with reckless abandon. They were both on opposite sides of the table now, and James was trying to get around to Lily and whiten her hair a little more. Every time he moved a step to the right, she moved a step to the left. Every time he moved to the left, she moved to the right. Then, he got an idea. He faked by skidding to the right then sprinting left. They crashed into each other at the table's end, and suddenly were locked in an embrace, mostly caused by the mutual need for balance.  
  
"Oh...wow," said James, looking around at the messy kitchen.   
  
"Yeah...wow." said Lily. But neither of them let go. As a matter of fact, it was quite the contrary.  
  
They both turned and faced each other at the exact same time, and leaned forward. Their lips met, and it was instant, if brief, chemistry. After about one and a half seconds, James jumped back as though he had been struck by lightning. "What was __that?"  
  
Lily sat down rather hard in a chair. "I think...it was a kiss."  
  
James's stomach gave an uncomfortable turn. "Sorry, Lily."  
  
_

"No, it was my fault. Sorry."  
  
"You mean you meant to?"  
  
"I don't know, did you?"  
  
"I don't' know, did you?"  
  
"I don't know." Lily sighed. "Whatever it was, that's all, it WAS. It's gone. It never happened, all right?"  
  
"Right," James said, with only the tiniest note of disappointment in his voice. "Never happened."   
  
  
  
  
  
Mops and wet cloths made shiny trails through the layer of flour that covered the entire kitchen. There was total silence, both of them re-enacting his or her own version of the whole hug+kiss episode mentally, until (dot dot dot) they heard sounds from upstairs.  
  
The hyper-sensitive Lily jerked her head upwards so quickly it hurt. "What was that?"  
  
A smile played on James's lips as he quoted her. "I think...it was a kiss."  
  
"What ARE you talking about?" She was taking herself quite literally about the "never happened" thing.   
  
"Never mind...I don't know what it is." He leaned the mop up against the doorjamb and walked over to the staircase. "I'll take a look. I'll be right back."  
  
She grabbed his arm, but kept at arm's length. "Wait! What if...never mind. Go ahead." He smiled and kept going. She stood, hand still outstretched, and her mouth open in awe at her stupidity. She muttered to herself as she went about cleaning the counter. "Sure, Lily, it's only the darkest wizard in the universe is after you, no biggie, you can be alone downstairs in a strange house when the only other person there is _'investigating' mysterious footsteps upstairs; yeah, that's completely safe." Of course, she was only psyching herself out, she wasn't really serious.   
  
She should have been.   
  
  
  
James walked through the upstairs. "Hello?" There was a sound of footsteps at the end of the hall. "Who's there?" He grabbed a small footstool and held it above his head, ready to strike. "I'd advise you to leave! Right now, because I'm armed!"  
  
A voice he knew came out of the room. "Armed?" Bell-like laughter reverberated down the hall. "I'll come quietly, then!" And out of the room, hands above her head in mock surrender came-  
  
James dropped the footstool on his own foot, but didn't react. "Chrissy?"   
  
_

"The one and only."  
  


"I thought you were- that is, I _knew you were-"  
  
"Dead? Life plays funny tricks sometimes, doesn't it?"  
  
"But are you a ghost or something?"  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"You're real?" There was mounting excitement in his voice as the burden of guilt removed itself from his shoulders.  
  
"As real as you are, Potter."  
  
That was almost strange, because Chrissy had never called him "Potter," but his overwhelmed senses had dismissed reason as a thing of the past. "I can't believe it!" He ran forward to hug her, ecstatic that she was alive, but he found himself in the room. He had run right through Chrissy!   
  
Her figure turned around, and the eyes glowed red as a different voice came out of the mouth. "My victims stay dead, Potter. I don't leave anything to chance." Before his eyes, the form of Christina Johnson had turned into a tall, thin, black-haired wizard in his mid-thirties and melted through the floor, laughing maniacally. The laughter echoed in James's betrayed ears as he pounded a fist against the wall in frustration. The door slammed shut and locked itself from the outside.   
  
"Hey!" He rattled the doorknob, pounded on the door, and yelled to Lily at the top of his voice. "Lily! It's him! Get out of the house!" In his pure anger, he wrenched the doorknob off of the door. Utterly exhausted, he slumped down against the wall and held his ears, not wanting to hear the screams.   
  
  
  
  
Lily felt an icy hand on her shoulder. "James, how on Earth did you come down the stairs without making a- Oh, my God!" She had turned around and seen that it wasn't James.   
  
"Easily, my dear. I don't use the stairs." The thin, pale smile seemed to make those ruby eyes glint even more wickedly than normal. "And now...now, it's time to ensure that you never use stairs again." The smile was instantly replaced by an unconcealing sneer as he wrenched her arm behind her back and jerked her head upwards from behind with his wand pressed against her throat. She couldn't move...his body was blocking her...   
  
"Help..." she whispered weakly as her air was cut off by the yew rod at her throat. "James...someone..." The world went black.   
  
Suddenly, as Lily's body went limp in his grasp, his sneer metamorphosized into a look of disgusted amazement. "No...." he backed away, leaving her shallowly breathing form limp on the kitchen floor.  "It's only half the magic..." He cursed so horribly that the air must   
have been singed in the words' wake. "Where could the other half be?" And within a second, he was gone.   
  
  
  
  
James toppled backwards as the door behind him flew open. A voice rose past him and up out of the house. "Your friend is lucky now...it's not complete...but I will destroy her someday..." and the horrible, piercing laughter chilled his ears yet again.   
  
James was luckier than Lily; Voldemort wasn't around long enough to hear the name James called after him. But then, horrified at what he might find when he got downstairs, he walked slowly towards the kitchen. His father was kneeling on the ground next to a very shaken Lily, but alive. He looked up and saw James. "Oh, hello, James...care to tell me what happened in here?"   
  
James's eyes twinkled as he said, quite truthfully as far as Lily was concerned, "Whatever it was, it never happened."_


	18. Shadows

**Lily**

_Chapter 18_

  
  
  
  
  
Chantel walked into the compartment, her black hair like a veil on her shoulders. "Hi, Lily!" She swooped down and hugged her friend. "Hi, James." James gave a distracted wave in her direction. "Well, excuse me for livin'. What's up, Lily?"  
  
Lily and James were seated at opposite sides of the compartment on the Hogwarts Express. They weren't really ready to make intelligent conversation, as they both kept remembering the kitchen with flour all over it and that kiss that never happened. Sirius and Remus were standing in the back, leaning against the door with folded arms and smirks a mile  
wide on their faces. Lily just said, "What do you mean, 'what's up?'"   
  
Chantel shrugged. "I don't know. Just...what's up?"  
  
"Nothing. What's up with you?"  
  
"Um...well, obviously your temper. What is going on with you, girl?"  
  
Lily sighed and got up. "Come on, Chantel. I've got to talk to you." And they went off in search of an empty compartment.   
  
Sirius burst out laughing as soon as Lily was out of earshot. "James, _puh__-lease! Why don't you just make your move now and get it over with?"   
  
James's gaze cut over to Sirius. "What? What do you mean by that?"  
  
"God, you don't see it? You STILL don't see it?" Remus was shaking his head in disbelief. "You've got to see it!"  
  
"Can you just get off my back? Nothing happened, o.k?"  
  
James obviously forgot that, when dealing with pranksters, you never say "nothing happened" unless you are asked if anything happened. "'Nothing happened?' What WOULD happen, James, my good fellow?" Sirius's eyes shone with concealed mirth. "I do believe you're implying that we are implying that something happened between you and Lily...implied only, of course."   
  
James slumped back against the seat. "Can't anyone have a serious thought around here?"  
  
"Many people think about me, good chap! Half the teachers in the school are now dreading my very arrival!" He and Remus sat on either side of him and pinned his arms to the seat. "Now. Can't you just tell ol' Moony and Padfoot what happened?"  
  
"Lemme think. Hmm, no." He struggled to get up, but he was held fast.   
  
"No, no, no, that's not what you're supposed to say. If you can share a dangerous, illegal secret with us, you can share a tiny-winy, itsy-bitsy little secret about the fireworks that flew over your summer holiday, can't you?" Remus's voice was wheedling, like that of a mother trying to get her 2-year-old to eat his spinach.   
  
James sat still, defeated at last. "I'll tell you, but if you tell a soul, I'll impale you at the next full moon."  
  
They spoke in unison. "Worth more'n a dime, more'n a penny, a Marauder's word is as good as any."  
  
"All right. I swear I would, though. Anyways, if you ask Lily, she'll claim that 'it never happened.'" he mimicked her high voice. "We were having a flour fight in the kitchen of my house after she nearly fell off her broomstick, and we did that thing where we were circling in different directions around the table, 'cause she didn't want me to hit her with the flour, and we ran into each other..."  
  
"__And????" Sirius's voice was heavy with glee.  
  
"And...the floor was really slippery because of all the flour, and we grabbed onto each other to keep from falling..."  
  
"AND??"   
  
"And we kissed, o.k? K-I-S-S-E-D, you happy? I leaned down and she leaned up and we went __mmmmuah, and that was it. One and a half seconds, people, at the most!"  
  
Sirius released James's arm and leaned back like a schoolgirl watching a romantic movie. "Ah...that's soo romantic!"  
  
Remus was content to act the scene out as James described it. He chucked imaginary handfuls of flour all over the place and then pretended to run into something about the height of a second-year girl, then stopped dead and pantomimed an extremely long, passionate, sloppy kiss on the back of his hand.   
  
Sirius said, "Oh, stop it, Remus, you're making our dear friend turn the color of his beloved's hair!" Before he knew it, James's hands were around his neck and squeezing rather tightly. He spoke in a choked voice. "Oh, did I say that out loud? What I meant to say was 'Oh, stop it, Remus, you're making James embarrassed and insecure about a situation he  
was reluctant to relate to us to begin with." As he gasped for air, James walked over to the compartment door to dispel a crowd of eavesdropping first years.  
  
"Beat it! Hit the road! Wait!" He caught a smarmy-looking first year boy with golden hair and dazzling teeth by the arm. "Did you...hear anything?"  
  
The little boy reached up and patted James's shoulder paternally, even though he could probably have been smushed by one well-aimed stomp of James's foot. "Don't you worry about that, now, you're little secret's safe with me." He flashed those oh-too-many teeth at James again and took off. Luckily for the little boy, James turned around to deal justice to Remus before he could see the kid making kissy-lips against the glass door.   
  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "I saw him on the platform. Asked me if I would mind putting his trunk up in the train for him, can you imagine? Annoying little git, isn't he?"  
  
James paused for a moment, not letting Remus out of the headlock he had. "Sirius, do you happen to know the 'annoying little git's' name?"  
  
"Odd little name...Gilroy Lockhert or something like that, I'm not that good with names."  
  
  
  
The school year had started once again, and classes were no different, just harder. Lily and James began talking normally, except for the heated glares that Gilroy or whatever his name was constantly catching from James in the common room. Nothing much was different from the previous year.   
  
They had a new Herbology teacher named Professor Lollio. She was a thin little witch, but with enough energy to outdo twelve cheerleaders at a pep rally. Professor Lollio always seemed to know exactly what every one of them was thinking and when, making James feel quite insecure (needless to say). She also had a wicked habit of pairing them with the worst possible people when they had practical lessons, for example, Lily paired with Gilroy (whose real name happened to be Gilderoy Lockhart), Chantel paired with Peter, James and a very annoying first-year girl who seemed to have the largest crush on him ever (her name was Melissa). Sirius and Remus was the only good match she made.   
  
"Alllll rrrighty then, class!" Professor Lollio's voice always sounded like a roller-coaster ride going up and down, up and down. "I reeeeally hope you like this claaasss..uh-oh..." she looked over at Melissa grasping James's arm lovingly yet dangerously. She shook her head reminiscently. "Ah...young love...Aaaanyways, class! Weee'll be processing the  
Baaarrraaa root today, so weeeear your gloves! If you touch it with your baaaaare hands, dyes them vermillllion for a day and a haaaalf!"  
  
There was a great rush as everyone seized a pair of gloves from the desk. Chantel scowled angrily as she made her appeal to the bouncy professor. "Please, Professor, Peter's not here yet, and-"   
  
She chuckled warmly and patted Chantel's shoulder. "Ah, me...unwilling to begiiin, without her liiiitle 'friend...' No, don't try to denyyyy it, I've seeeeen you making eeeeyyyes at him during leeessons. Heeere he comes nooooow!" Peter, huffing and puffing, ran through the door.   
  
"Sorry I'm late, let's get to the lesson." Peter was always short and non-verbal like that.  
  
He walked over to the table and began to chop up the roots. Chantel was seated across from him and eyed him critically. "Peter, you're supposed to wear gloves."  
  
"Hmm? Ew!" His hands were a bright red color from holding the roots so much. "Yuck! This looks awful!" He reached across to wipe them off on Chantel's robes, and got a huge red spot right on the chest of her robes. She reached across to smack him across the face, and it worked. Next thing everyone knew, Chantel was leaving the greenhouse in a huff  
and Peter was lying on the floor, dazed as all heck. "Wha' happened? Why's my cheek hurt? Why're my hands red like that? Wha' happened?"  
  
  
  
It was refreshing to see Peter get his, but Professor Lollio was totally incorrigible; when Chantel begged for a change in partners, she kept labeling it as denial and shyness. So, Chantel had to go without, and her mood seemed to suffer for it. She was slightly withdrawn from everyone else, and she was always jumpy around the evening time. But nobody  
thought anything of it; it was just her way of lashing out against The Matchmaker from Heck, a.k.a. Professor Lollio.   
  
  
_

**_A/N-__ I know the ending sorta sux, but please don't kill me! I'm sort of eager to get this out so that I can post the next part right afterwards; it's already written!_**


	19. Unpleasant Surprises

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

****

****

**Lily**

_Chapter 19_

**_A/N: __I apologize. I apologize to everyone in advance. You'll see why.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
_**

Lily plopped herself down on her bed, giggling. Sirius was such a prankster! Sort of a problem child; it didn't pay to have him as a Charms partner. His "accidentally-on-purpose" overdone Cheering Charm had leveled Lily for the majority of her day and she was still giggling uncontrollably.   
  
By the time she had calmed down and taken a few drinks of water, she heard the sounds of students climbing the dormitory steps. Chantel walked in. She didn't even bother to change into her nightclothes, she just hovered near her four-poster, looking almost frightened of it.   
  
Lily tilted her head to one side, concerned at her friend's strange behavior. She swung her legs over the side of her bed and walked over. "Chantel?"  
  
Chantel's head snapped around nervously, then she calmed down. "Oh, it's you, Lily."  
  
"Yes, it's me...who else would be in our dormitory...oh, sorry." She watched Chantel's frightened green eyes sweep down to the floor, full of tears. Of course, who else would be? Chrissy, that's who. "Anyways," Lily began awkwardly, "You've been acting sort of strange lately...what's going on?"  
  
"What? Strange? Why do you ask? I'm not strange, am I?"  
  
"No, you're just...LOOK at yourself!" Lily dragged her by the arm over to a mirror. "Your hair is all frizzy, your eyes have got these dark shadows under them...what's the deal?"  
  
"Nothing!" Chantel's voice took on a high, panicked note. "Nothing at -- Lily, he's in my dreams!"  
  
Lily broke her hand away from her friend's arm. "Who? What do you mean, in your dreams?" she demanded.  
  
Mascara dripped down her cheeks as tears began to flow. "Every time I close my eyes, Lily! Every single time, I see those eyes! Those horrible red eyes, and that voice! I can't see the other ones, just him, and the Muggles...the poor people!" She stopped and collapsed, sobbing, on Lily's shoulder.   
  
Lily knew it wouldn't be right to say anything, lest she make Chantel feel worse. She just mouthed "oh, my god, oh, my god, oh, my god" over and over again. Chantel was dreaming about Voldemort...her father, that is...killing the Muggles. Why was this happening? "It'll be o.k...It'll be o.k..." Lily murmured soothingly, stroking her friend's hair. "let's get you down to the Hospital Wing."  
  
"No! No, it's too lonely down there! I've got to stay here...in the dormitory..."  
  
Lily guided her across the room. "You need rest," she said, firmly placing her down on the bed. "Get some sleep. See if it doesn't look better in the morning."  
  
Chantel reluctantly laid down and closed her eyes, but she wasn't resting at all. Lily knew, late into the night she heard Chantel's ragged sobs coming from across the room.   
  
  
The next morning, Chantel looked like she had been through a mosh pit and gotten trampled by breakdancers a few times. The mascara had caked onto her cheeks and given her a rather tribal look while her robes were rumpled from tossing and turning in them all night long. When she stood up and looked in the mirror, the resounding shriek woke Lily up, not to mention shattered part of the poor mirror. Lily leapt out of bed, unsettled by the previous night's conversation. "What? What's happening? What's wrong, Chantel?" She was all ready for another comforting episode where Chantel collapsed and had to be caught by her friend, but soon groaned and fell back on her bed when she heard the string of babble coming out of Chantel's mouth.   
  
"Oh, my God! what happened? Why are my cheeks all black like this? Sirius is going to DIE laughing at me, and he'll get the whole Great Hall involved, and I'll be a TOTAL laughingstock and blahblahblah..." It went on and on and on, the self-concious banter mingling with Cleaning Charms. By the time she finished, Lily was already downstairs and eating breakfast in the Great Hall. Chantel hurried down, her face glowing, and sat next to Lily. "Well! Hello, everyone!"  
  
Sirius's mouth dropped open, and he put his elbow in the maple syrup. "Oh...hi, Angel, I mean Chantel!"   
  
James cast a disgusted glance over at his friend and just rolled his eyes. "I can only hope that I will never go that ga-ga."  
  
Chantel was doing her share of ga-ga, too. "Nice to see you, S...Sih...uh...no matter, I know you're a Gryffindor and all that, and you're not Severus Snape."  
  
Lily shrugged and started to dig into a stack of pancakes. "Good enough for me."  
  
"Padfoot," came a stage whisper from the other side of the table. "Hey, padfoot..." Remus Lupin was making shoving motions with his hands, like, 'go on, go on!'   
  
Sirius's eyes reflected panic as he wiped off his sticky elbow. "Uh, uh, uh...Chantel?"  
  


"Uh, uh, uh...yes?" She mimicked his uncertainty.  
  
"Would you...would you want to, I guess the question is...g...g..."  
  
"Uh, uh, uh...yes!" She smiled at his relieved face.   
  
"Great! First thing we do is set all the Slytherins' pants on fire at the next Quidditch match. Then we'll have the bleacher all to ourselves and we can just sit there and watch all the players fly around up above and...then we kiss, and...oh, gosh..." his face went the color of parchment as he revealed what he had been thinking about ever since he made   
the decision to ask her. Milk spurted from Lily's and James's noses as they laughed their rear ends off.   
  
"Gotta go!" Lily gasped, mopping up milk with her napkin and leaving for her first class. Chantel didn't even say good-bye, she was too busy gazing at Sirius with the proverbial ga-ga eyes. Lily turned back when she noticed that the second set of footsteps weren't coming. "I said, 'gotta go!'" Chantel was unmoved.   
  
James looked at Lily and said, "Don't blame me for this!" He splashed Chantel's face with a glass of icy water, and she got up and followed Lily.   
  
  
  
The day proceded normally, and everything went the same as any other day, except for the fact that Lily didn't have to suffer through Sirius's dreadful Charms that day; Chantel elbowed her out of the way when they were partnering up. She had to put up, however, with James, who was even worse than Sirius. As a matter of fact, they were practicing the  
Banishing Charm, and Lily found herself on the other side of the room more than once during the class. It was almost time for the lesson to end, and she had been blown across the classroom yet again. James laughed and yelled, "Accio Lily!" She was swept to her feet and pulled back by invisible strings...too far...too far! Right into James's arms!   
  
There was complete silence as both of them clenched their mouths tight...they did NOT want a repeat of what happened the past summer. Somehow, the tighter their mouths clenched, the tighter did their arms. Then James let go. "Sorry."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
  
  
  
  
That night, in the common room, Lily had a rather frightening experience. She was sitting on the couch, listening to Chantel gab about Sirius, when suddenly, blood gushed out of Chantel's chest. Lily gasped as the room turned the dark red color of blood. Everyone in it, James, Sirius, Remus, everyone...everyone but Peter. Only his right hand turned   
the horrible shade, but then galvanized into silver as he advanced on Lily, laughing...laughing...so cruelly! He raised a dagger and Lily screamed, covering her head with her arms and screwing her eyes shut. When they opened again, the room was normally colored. Chantel was looking concernedly at her and inching backwards on the couch.   
  
"You o.k, girl?"   
  
Lily was trembling. She reached out and tried to feel the space just above Chantel's stomach, to make sure there wasn't the gaping hole there had been, but Chantel moved all the way to the other side of the couch. Lily looked around. Peter was sitting in the corner, a discontent lump, and his right hand was perfectly normal...no dagger clutched in it.  Then she swept her gaze downward and looked at her own, shaking hands. "Fine," she mumbled. "I'm fine."   
  
  
  
  
  
Lily lay awake in bed, thinking hard. She was too frightened to sleep, probably just as frightened as Chantel had been last night. She just kept hearing that cruel laugh and seeing the horrible, all-encompassing red...a tremor ran through her body just thinking about remembering it. Sleep...yes...that's what she needed. Lily turned over and faced the wall with her eyes closed, but on the inside of her eyelids was painted that picture of the silver hand clutching the long, dripping dagger. Fighting it, she tried to replace the image with that of James, but the gruesome combination resulted in a picture of James being stabbed with that dagger. She snapped her eyes open, rather watching the light dance on the wall than seeing a dagger plunge into James's heart. She felt a little odd thinking about James's heart, and chuckled nervously to herself before hearing the sound.   
  
It sounded like a heavy person dragging a heavy flour sack across the floor. The _sliiiide__, thump, sliiiide, thump of the footsteps was eerie and disconcerting, especially after the image she had envisioned in the common room that evening. The irresistible trembling seized her body again, and liquid fear surged through her veins. The sound ceased and   
a grunt was heard, followed by the sound of rapid thumping, like the flour sack was being rolled down a staircase.   
  
Lily took a deep, shuddering breath and turned over slowly, making sure the springs made no sound as she grabbed her wand and pulled the curtains away. She stepped urgently, yet softly. What was going on? Why wasn't anyone else awake? Should she- her brain froze to a screeching halt in the middle of a question. Her foot had just touched something   
wet on the ground...Lily bent down and laid her hand near her foot. In the silvery moonlight trickling in from the window, she saw that her fingerprints were filled in with a dark red color..."blood," she breathed frantically. Taking care to watch her steps, she followed the grisly trail down the steps. She flattened herself against the wall and hardly dared to peek into the common room. When she gritted her teeth and whipped her head around to look at the scene, the breath was stolen from her lips in fear.  
  
There, in the center of the common room, stood a boy bending over the stretched-out body of a girl. Through her chest was a dagger and at least a dozen stab wounds. Blood was everywhere, just like in her vision. The boy was whispering as he pulled the dagger out and thrust it in again. "He never believes me...see if this'll be proof, oh, yes...I'm as loyal  
as the next one...yes...yes...YES!" He whirled on Lily, a manic gleam in his eyes and an insane grin plastered across his features. "He thought I would desert him!" He advanced on her, dagger clutched spasmodically in his right hand. "But no! No, just her! You...he has plans, he does, oh, yes! For YOU!"  
  
Lily backed up the stairs, hardly daring to believe what was before her. Chantel, lying dead...and at Peter's hands. His bloody hands! Her fingers went limp as her brain urged her to run, run! But her legs simply wouldn't obey.   
  
Peter grabbed her around her waist and shoved her down the stairs. As she lay there, helpless, she saw the clouded-over green eyes of her friend, lying next to her. Tears wouldn't come. This was too much! Peter threw the dagger down carelessly, and it chopped a length of her hair off. He bent very, very low and whispered hoarsely to Lily: "You may know, but you'll never tell."  
  
Then the world seemed to collapse around them._


	20. The Curse

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 20  
  
_

  
A/N: I am sorry about the last fic, it gave ME nightmares! It was a bit.....*concentrating on which word to use*.....intense?  
Yeah..that's it, it was intense. Please R/R!   
  
  
  
  
Lily lifted her head with a low groan. It was then that she became aware of the dagger in her hand. The dry blood coated the blade with a   
menacing maroon tint. She managed to get to her feet and walk a few steps before throwing it down with disgust, wincing as it clattered   
to the floor.   
  
  
Her eyes followed the dried trail, leading to a limp form on the marbled floor. Lily's eyes narrowed their gaze on the form, trying to   
deny the truth. "Chantel." She breathed, barely above a whisper. Chantel's eyes were clouded over, fear written across her face.   
  
Lily closed her eyes, hoping to releave the stinging sensation, but a horrible memory projected through her eyelids. Feeling as though   
reliving last night, she felt beads of sweat on her forhead, watching the cloaked man jab the dagger in and out of Chantel's body.  
  
She sprang back to reality with a sudden jolt and a churning thought. What time was it? There was no one in the common room at the moment,   
but how long did she have until someone came down? And what would that person think?  
  
With a vague thought of 'run', she sprinted. Her muscles screamed in pain and her lungs burned as she came to the Portrait Hole. "Don't   
cry," she demanded to herself breathlessly. "You don't have any time for tears."  
  
She stepped out of the Portrait Hole and and rounded the corner quickly.  But only to come crashing down. She looked around, there was no one....  
but why did she fall? Quickly, she stood up and brushed herself off, catching a silvery sparkle from the side of her eye. Lily whipped her   
head right, but there was nothing. She shrugged it off, until she felt an odd presence before her.   
  
Lily tilted her head up and there stood James. All the tears that were piling up in her chest, came spilling out. "I tried, I really did."   
  
He wrapped her shuddering form in a tight embrace, holding her head against his chest, somewhat soothingly. Her tears were drenching,   
soaking through his shirt, but he didn't care. "What happened?" He asked, resting his chin atop her head and stroking her long, tangled web of hair.  
  
"C-Chantel..." She choked out with a cough.   
  
"What about her?" James asked patiently.  
  
"She-e's-s dea-ad."  
  
He grew silent for a few minutes, holding her tighter. And when he did speak, his voice cracked, "How?"  
  
It was then that Lily realized how tired James really looked. His hair was sticking out at crazy angles and heavy bags were under his eyes.   
"James, why're you here?"  
  
Apparently he was expecting an answer instead of another question. "What?"  
  
"Why're you here?"  
  
He pointed to the floor beside him where a bag of biscuits lay. "I raided the kitchen." He shook his head to get back on topic. "How did   
she die?" There was no response. "Where is she?"  
  
Lily broke eye contact, mumbling. "In the common room." She wanted to yell - to scream - that it was Peter. Peter, his fellow Maurader.   
Peter, the murderer.  
  
But it was like a vault. Locking the valuable information in a cell where there was no way to reveal it. She closed her eyes once again,   
this time it was voices....Peter's icy voice. 'You may know, but you will never tell.'  
  
James's eyes narrowed onto her. "It wasn't you, right?" He asked very shakily, slowly taking his hands away and backing up from her.   
  
"NO! It wasn't me, I wouldn't KILL my best friend!" Lily screamed in frustration. She was slowly loosing her patience. "Why can't you   
believe me?" Fresh tears coursed down her cheeks.   
  
He stopped and dropped his hands abruptly. "Then who was it?"  
  
"I can't tell! I can't-" she broke off, sobbing. Her legs gave out beneath her and she sat on the stone floor, defeated.   
  
"I wish I could believe you, Lily." And he backed out of sight into the darkness.


	21. Heartbreak

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 21_

She sat crying for at least fifteen minutes. The images played back in her mind like she was watching a movie over and over again. The only thought that was enough to make her stand up and run back to the common room was a name. "Sirius!" What would he think?   
  
When she arrived in the common room, Sirius was already awake. He was kneeling in the corner of the common room, cradling Chantel's blood-cloaked body in his arms and sobbing. "Chantel...please...come back..." He didn't seem to notice anything that was happening, he just clutched the body closer and closer, tighter and tighter. Tears coursed down his face, contorted with grief. Lily only just dared to cross to him and put a hand on his shoulder.  
When he looked up and saw her, everything happened too quickly for either of them to see. The utter sadness and pain turned to fierce anger, and the next thing she knew, a huge black dog was bounding towards her and leaping for the kill.  
  
Tears sparkled on the sleek black fur as it clawed at any part of her body it could, barking and growling like she had never heard before. Her frail arms were a meager defense against the grief-mad dog.   
  
"Padfoot!" A familiar voice rang out, but her mind was fogged; she couldn't recognize it. "Padfoot! Stop it now!" The dog rolled off her and was soon the hunched form of a thirteen-year-old boy, crying his eyes out. Remus ran over to them and crouched down beside Lily. "Did he hurt you?"   
  
She shook her head, trembling from fear. His eyes looked exactly the same as they did on her first night at Hogwarts: concerned and achingly kind. Sirius spoke through sobs. "Did I hurt HER? Have you lost your mind? She killed Chantel! I..." He stopped, not wanting to say anything else.   
  
Remus looked back at her, looking like he didn't want to believe it, but almost did. "You killed Chantel?"  
  
"No! It was....I can't say who it was, they put some sort of curse on me! And nobody believes me anymore!" She turned around and faced the wall, unwilling to see Sirius like that.   
  
He hesitated, then gently took her by the shoulders and turned her around. "I believe you."  
  
"TRAITOR!" Sirius shouted, leaping to his feet. "Traitor! I thought you actually...do you MEAN that?" Remus nodded slowly. He backed away, looking exactly like James. "Traitor..." he whispered. When he reached the center of the common room, with the dagger still stuck in the floor, he bent down. Slowly, his fingers laced around the handle. Remus wasn't looking at him, he and Lily were talking. Something told him that it was the right time. He lifted the dagger and turned the point inwards, pushing it through the air until it was just about to puncture his robes...  
  
Something hit him out of nowhere, grabbing his wrist and flattening him against the ground. Remus had sprung at him when he realized what was going on and was trying to wrest the dagger out of his hand. "You idiot!" They rolled over and over, Sirius trying to regain control of the weapon.   
  
"Let me go!"  
  
"Would she have wanted you to do this to yourself?" Remus was shouting angrily, despite the fact that Sirius now had the dagger inches away from his face. "To me? To Lily?"  
  
"She would have wanted to go avenged, if that's what you mean!"  
  
"Let go of the dagger!"  
  
"NO!"  
  
And a new voice. "Stop it now!" Professor Albus Dumbledore had just climbed through the portrait hole. He fired a blast of yellow light from his wand, and the two boys fell apart. "What has been going on here?"  
  
Lily was tremendously relieved by the arrival of Dumbledore. She couldn't stand up, but she rose to a sitting position and tearfully related the story, omitting, of course, Peter's involvement in it. The Headmaster's blue eyes shone sadly with a light like the sun setting on the Earth's last day. "Who was it, Lily?"  
  
The burning frustration flared up again. "I can't say, there was some sort of curse!" In her mind, it was clear. The name was completely clear, shouting and echoing through the chambers of her head, but it couldn't make the journey from there to her lips.   
  
Dumbledore's piercing gaze seemed to stare right through her, yet revealed nothing to anyone else. At last he turned and adressed Sirius and Remus. "Lily is telling the truth."  
  
Sirius had only enough energy left to growl from his sitting position, "How can you believe her? There's Chantel, she's...dead..." the word seemed to choke him.   
  
"I have every confidence that Miss Evans is telling the truth, Mr. Black," he looked at the dagger lying so close to Sirius's hand. "Now what, may I be so bold as to ask, were YOU doing with that dagger?"  
  
He didn't say anything. He didn't cry, he didn't talk, and he didn't move. His eyes were like two hollow caves in his head.   
  
"I see. Well, I know that this must have been extremely difficult for all of you...where, may I ask, are Mr. Potter and Mr. Pettigrew?"   
  
Lily wanted to scream, to give some sort of indication that he had just spoken the name she would never be able to accuse, but something blocked the words from coming.   
  
Remus spoke for the first time since Dumbledore had entered. "They're up in the dormitory. Peter's been speechless, pretty much. He hasn't left his bed all day, and the curtains are all pulled around him. James is really upset, though. Don't ask me why, but he seems even more upset than..." he looked briefly over towards Sirius, hoping that he wouldn't notice the reference.   
  
"Fine. Well, we must attend to this, mustn't we? I'll ask you, Lily, to inform the girls not to come down to the common room, and Remus, you inform the boys." He turned to Sirius, who was now shivering despite the warm fire. "Mr. Black?" he said gently. "Would you care to accompany me to the Hospital Wing? Madame Pomfrey can give you a sleeping potion."  
  
"No, Professor." His voice was as hollow as his eyes. "No. I'll-I'll be all right." He stood up and walked mechanically up the boy's dormitory steps, not looking at Chantel's body.  
  
Lily walked up the stairs to the girl's dormitoy, and as Remus departed after Sirius, Dumbledore called him back. A small vial full of a purple liquid was pressed into his hand as Dumbledore muttered into his ear, "I'll trust you to make sure Mr. Black gets some of this in his water. He needs sleep, Remus." Remus nodded as it dawned on him and he climbed the steps.   
  
  
  
  
  
James sat on the end of his bed, staring at the floor. "To think, Wormtail. I didn't just believe she was trustworthy, I...well, that never..." He swore in frustration and punched his pillow, not wanting to bring back the old inside joke he had. Was she planning it? Even that summer, was she planning it? "Now I don't even know who to trust." Rapid breathing sounds came from Peter's bed, sounding a little like crying, but a little like laughter, too. James decided on the former. "What about you, Wormtail?" he said, mockingly, just for a joke. "Can I trust you?"  
  
Peter's face poked out of the curtains, staring through James. "What makes you say that?" His eyes were shiny, but not as though he had been crying. It was very disconcerting, but James dismissed it.  
  
"Nothing." He fell back on his bed and said nothing.   
  
There was silence in the dormitory for about ten minutes, then they heard the sound of steps being climbed slowly. James got up quickly and shouted, "Who's that?"  
  
No response came, just Sirius entering the room and sitting down on the edge of his bed. He sighed. "What's the use, anymore?" His voice was hollow and quiet. "What is the use? She's gone."  
  
"Hey, don't talk like that." James walked over and stood in front of Sirius. "There's plenty of use."  
  
"Like what?" He spat the words out, his head between his hands.  
  
"School. The future."  
  
"Boring. Looking black."  
  
"Damn it, Sirius!" He sat back down. "Are you just going to resist happiness forever?"  
  
"What's the point of being happy anymore?"  
  
"You talk like that 'anymore,' and I'll punch you."  
  
So Sirius fell quiet. About five minutes later, he spoke again. "If Dumbledore hadn't come in, I'd be happy now."  
  
James looked abruptly at his friend. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Remus was being stupid. Trying to get the dagger away from me-"  
  
"'Dagger??' Where the heck did you get a dagger?"  
  
"It was stuck in the middle of the common room floor. All covered in blood-" tears choked him again, but he swallowed them. "I picked it up, and that traitor was talking to Lily..." Fire burned in his eyes. "He was talking to that liar, and I picked up the dagger...tried to..." he made an inwards stabbing motion with his hand. "But that idiot tried to stop me. I would have finished both of us, too, but Dumbledore walked in..."   
  
"Sirius, do you mean it? Were you really going to kill yourself?"  
  
He laughed mirthlessly. "Remus too."  
  
"What?" James ran his fingers through his hair distractedly. "Oh, man...Sirius, what the hell were you thinking? You'd be no better than....her."  
  
"Yeah, well at least I wouldn't deny it like...her!" He mimicked James cruelly.   
  
"But why Moony?"  
  
"Never call him that again, understand?" Sirius hissed. "Never again! He's a Marauder no more!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"He believes her!" You should have seen him, asking if I hurt her, getting all soppy about it..."  
  
"Wait!" James got up again. "What do you mean, asking if you hurt her? Sirius...you didn't..."  
  
"So what if I did?" The fire was back. "So what, Prongs? I thought you were on my side? Or are you too busy kissing murderers?"  
  
"Hey, I did NOT mean to do that!"  
  
"Well, you did!"  
  
Peter got out of his bed and talked in that oddly enticing way of his. "Padfoot! Prongs! Come on, now." He put a hand on each of their shoulders. "Let's not fall out with each other just because one of us did. Is it going to do any good? Sirius...this won't bring her back."   
  
There was a tone in his voice that was half annoying and half "you gotta believe it." They were still staring at each other angrily when Remus came up. It was the wierdest thing Remus had ever seen. As soon as he entered, they retreated into their beds and pulled the curtains in less then a second. "Jeez," he muttered, pouring the sleeping potion onto the glass of water on Sirius's bedside table. Then he went back to tell everyone else not to go down to the common room. As soon as he left, Sirius's hand shot out and knocked over the glass.  
  
  
  
  
(The following is an exerpt from the diary of Lily Evans, April 24, 1966.)  
  
_Dear Diary,  
  
I don't know quite what's going on. Somehow that little worm, (large scribble) made  
it so that I can't write his name! Or even say his name! The problem is that I know, I   
SAW him kill Chantel, but now nobody believes me! Except for Remus and Dumbledore.   
Remus and I don't eat breakfast with the rest of them anymore, and it really hurts me to   
see Sirius so...not himself. He always looks like he's on the brink of tears, and he and  
James look at me like I'm a slug or something. What should I do?  
  
(End exerpt)_


	22. Unintentional Convincing

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

****

****

**Lily**

_Chapter 22_

A/N- Sort of freaky at one point, but nothing extremely suspenseful to the reader. U know what's going to happen already. Anyways, keep the reviews coming! Thanks to Clara Maplewood for the last couple fics.  
  
  
  


  
  
  
  
The next day, they had flying lessons. Lily was beginning to feel sick just looking at a broomstick; it reminded her too much of the past summer's antics at James's house, and thinking of James made her just feel sick. The worst feeling in the world, she decided as she walked out to the field, is the feeling that your friend doesn't trust you anymore.   
  
Sirius had gotten so reclusive that he rarely even talked to James and Peter, let alone Lily or Remus. He didn't even make eye contact with Lily. He kept to himself and didn't play any of the pranks that he used to. A part of him seemed to have died along with Chantel, and it wasn't leaving easily.   
  
The flying instructor, a forboding-looking wizard named Professor Mace, directed them in his deep voice. "Mount the brooms."  
  
Lily looked to the right, where James stood. As soon as their gazes met, he suddenly became extremely interested in a cloud formation overhead. Her cheeks burned in anger, and she decided to concentrate on the lesson. She sat astride the broom.   
  
"On my whistle. Three...Two...One." He blew the whistle, and all the students kicked off from the ground. Lily, instead of the exhilirated feeling everyone else had, felt nervous and sort of sick. She still had problems landing. Peter flew right in front of her, causing her to stop abruptly in midair.   
  
"Watch where you're going!" He called over his shoulder. Lily found herself unable to act any different than she normally would; a mere scowl in his direction and continuing to fly around.   
  
The broom started wobbling. "Stupid school models," she muttered under her breath. But that didn't right her balance. As a matter of fact, she was flat against the broom and clutching on for dear life when Remus flew up alongside her.   
  
"All right there?" He held the tail of the broom and did some weird wiggling motion that seemed to stop the shaking.   
  
She sat back up and smiled. "Yeah. Thanks."   
  
He smiled and flew away. She tried to move off to the right, but Peter was flying just under there and she didn't like the prospect of him being able to look right up her robes. So she decided to land. "Oh, boy. Here we go again." Lily pushed down on the handle with moderate force, but it still dived out of control. There was no way to stop, and the steering seemed to be completely shot! She was going to crash right into Peter!   
  
Crrrrrunch.  
  
In a crunching of wood and bone, they collided. Peter fell off his broom with a shriek and twisted his arm underneath himself. There was a malicious gleam in his eyes as he held it limp and screamed in pretended agony. James landed right next to them and helped Peter up. "What happened? What did she do to you?"  
  
Peter cradled his arm and forced some tears. "She slammed right into me! Dove down and crashed my broom!"  
  
James glared at her and brought Peter to Professor Mace so that he could go up to the Hospital Wing.   
  
  
  
  
That night in the common room, Sirius hovered everywhere but the corner near the girl's dormitories. He kept shooting fiery glances at Lily, but never said a word to her. James was right with him, skulking around and muttering darkly. They obviously thought that the incident on the field was a deliberate attempt on Peter's life, and that they were next.  
  
Remus, however, sat next to her and helped with her homework. "Ignore them," he whispered. "It's really not their fault."  
  
She turned back to her homework and brushed potential tears away from her dry eyes. "I know, I just wish they'd believe me."  
  
"That makes two of us," he muttered.   
  
  
  
  
(The following is an exerpt from the diary of Lily Evans, May 15, 1966.)  
  
Dear Diary,  
  
I've got a very, very bad feeling that something is going to happen. I crashed into (big scribble) today on my broomstick, and I'm afraid he might be mad at me. (A wet mark is on the page, and it is this author's opinion that it was a tear of frustration).   
  
I'll try to write the murderer's name again: (large scribble, only visible letter is an "r" at the very end) Well, that was better than last night. Good night, Diary. I need rest.   
  
(end exerpt)  
  
  
Lily lie asleep that night, in a deep, dreamless sleep. The room was very quiet and lonely. The green numbers of an alarm clock burned into the night on her bedside table.   
  
At about midnight, she was awakened by a hand clamped over her mouth and being dragged out of her bed. The room was completely dark, but she still knew who it was. Behind the hand, she shouted muffled cries for help and hurled muted insults at her captor. He laid her down at the top of the stairs and kicked her so that she rolled down, bumping her head on every step. Despite the pain in her head, she leapt up and started screaming as loudly   
as she could. Would a teacher hear her? Would anyone?  
  
Peter advanced on her, a finger to his lips. "Shhhhh....we don't want anyone to hear, do we?"  
  
She didn't say anything, just looked around for some sort of thing to throw at him. Her hand fell on a heavy book, and soon that book fell on Peter's head. With a roar of rage, he ran forward and raised the dagger. Lily slid to the right, and the dagger stuck into the wall. He wrenched it out and advanced on her again, a red light burninng in his eyes. Every time he ran at her, she moved out of the way. "Remus! Someone! Help!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. The dagger had cut up her forearms and hands pretty badly, but not yet had it done any real damage. She ran across the room, and he caught her  
halfway, holding the dagger at her throat.   
  
Lily was too scared to scream, too scared to say another word. Suddenly, rapid footsteps were heard descending the staircase, along with a cry of "Lily?"  
  
Peter whispered in her ear, "You've cheated Lord Voldemort. Never cheat Lord Voldemort." And he was gone, leaving only the dagger in the wall by her head as a sign of his presence.  
  
Remus, James, and Sirius entered the room, looking very frazzled. Remus had obviously pulled James and Sirius down, but the instant they all saw the state she was in, they might as well have come down voluntarily. Sirius still was a little wary of that one corner, but he rushed to her aid as quickly as any of them. James grabbed the dagger and pulled it out of the wall. "What happened?"  
  
Lily was gasping, but dry-eyed with fear. "He...he...dragged me out of bed...took me in here...tried to stab me...I ran out of the way...his eyes got red...then you came down..."   
  
James took the dagger and opened the window. "This stupid thing's caused enough trouble as it is." He leaned over and stuck it in what was obviously a secret hiding place up on the wall. "Whoever it was, he'll never find it here."  
  
"You believe me?" Lily almost forgot the pain in her arms.  
  
James shrugged. "Yeah. You wouldn't have sliced your arms voluntarily."  
  
"Thank you! You actually believe me! Do you, Sirius?"  
  
He nodded his head mildly. He did sort of want someone to blame, but it wasn't right to blame the wrong person. "Sure, I believe you."  
  
James's eyes twinkled. "Let's just say this whole thing 'neeever happened.'"


	23. Amelia

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 23_

  
  
  
The year ended smoothly, not going out with a bang or anything, but just slowly extinguishing itself like a candle deprived of oxygen. Slytherin won the Quidditch and House cups (again) and Severus Snape came over to brag (again). Nothing monumental happened, except for the fact that Sirius and James were talking to her again, and she was much happier for it. She was going back to James's house for the summer, except there would be a slightly  
heavier magical guard around the house in light of the previous summer's events (and I don't mean the one that never happened).  
  
The summer was just about as uneventful as the end of the year. James and Lily laughed at Mr. Potter's attempts to be the muggle standard of "Cool." Lily got some landing lessons, but James was careful never to leave her outside alone on a broom again.  
  
One mid-June day, a large, light brown owl flew in the window carrying a good-sized package. There was no return address, so both of them were reluctant to open it. James's curiosity, however, got the best of him after about five minutes. He ripped open the box and found several Dungbombs and a note:  
  
  


_Dear James and Lily,  
  
Hi! How are your summer holidays? Behaving, I hope, James? I was wondering if you two lovebirds would like to visit my house around the end of July. Write back soon!  
  
Toodle Pip,  
Sirius  
  
  
_

This note caused a little bit of Lily smacking James around the head, but that stopped quickly as they realized what this meant. Sirius was obviously getting over the whole thing. At least he sent Dungbombs, and Mr. Potter found his kitchen veritably contaminated with them for about a week afterwards. As for Sirius's offer, they were both very eager to take him up on it, since the house was getting slightly boring, and James wouldn't go near the room at the end of the upstairs hall.  
  
Lily only hesitated for an instant, dreading the flight over.  
  
  
  
When they arrived there (Lily's complexion turning a bit green), Sirius greeted them by setting off a number of Filibuster Fireworks from the upstairs window of his house. And speaking of his house...  
  
Sirius's mom was rather obsessed over restoring everything old, and that included her house. It was a huge relic, vines creeping up the sides and whitewash chipping off of a picket fence in the front.  
  
Sirius's little sister Amelia kept popping up wherever Lily and James went, casting them sly glances. Obviously Sirius had told her an exaggerated  
version of the thing that never happened. However, she came in very useful in her eagerness to give them the "grand tour" of the house.  
  
"Thirius told me all about you and Lily, Jaaameth." She nudged him with a little pudgy elbow and gave him the exact same smile that Gilderoy had given him on the Hogwarts Express. "And I wath thinking that maybe you'd like to hear the legend of our houthe. It'th really romantic to hear around a campfire, and Lily'll cuddle up clothe to you, and..."  
  
"SIRIUS!" James bellowed.  
  
Lily, while ticked off at Sirius for telling Amelia (not to mention at James for telling Sirius), thought that the little nuisance was sort of sweet. "I'm sure he'd love that, Amelia, but I'm more interested in the story."  
  
She gave Lily an uneven smile, due to the fact that she had just lost her two front teeth. "The thtory's neat, too. Come on!" She took Lily's hand in hers and led her up to the attic. James followed with Sirius's arm in a tight grip.  
  
Amelia's short black hair was done up in pigtails, giving her a distinctly innocent look that was slightly betrayed by her eyes, which were exactly the same as Sirius's, mischievous and bright, except for the fact that Amelia wore wire-framed glasses. It was sort of wierd, Lily thought, to imagine those eyes that had looked so hollow such a short time ago, on this bundle of energy. When they reached the attic, Amelia released Lily's hand and walked (or bounced) over to the wood-paneled wall. "Thith ith it." She pried a board loose and revealed a little hiding place, kind of like a miniature cave. Inside was a diary.   
  
It was an ordinary diary, a thin book with a shabby-looking black cover. Nothing was really special about it, or the hiding place. "Well?" Lily   
prompted gently. "What's the story?"  
  
A mischevious grin brought out Amelia's pinpoint dimple. She didn't answer Lily, but she jogged back down to her room and opened her desk. The little puffy hands produced a quill and blue ink. "Thith ith the cool part." Amelia opened the diary to the first page. In black ink was already written, "T.M. Riddle." The name struck some sort of chord in Lily, as though she had heard it somewhere before and was supposed to be careful of it.   
  
"Er, Amelia..." She took the diary and gently closed it. "I don't think we should read this diary. You never know the secrets the owner may have written in it."  
  
Amelia shook her head. "No, it'th empty."  
  
"What?" James was confused. "Why is it so important if it's empty?"  
  
Sirius's eyes twinkled just like Amelia's. "Just watch."  
  
Lily gave the diary back to Amelia, who haughtily re-opened it. She dipped the quill in the ink and poised it above the page, ready to write. "Tho, Liy, what do you want me to write?"  
  
"Um...just write...hi!"  
  
"O.k." Her pudgy elbow moved across the desk as she wrote in the diary. Then she motioned frantically, still looking down. "Come here, come here! It'th happening, it'th happening!"  
  
Lily and James walked over to the desk and looked over Amelia's shoulder. On the page was written, "Hello. My name is Tom Riddle."  
  
"I thought you said you were going to write 'hi,'" said Lily.   
  
"I did! The book anthwered me!"   
  
James caught Lily's eye and winked behind Amelia's back. "Wow. That's very interesting, Amelia."   
  
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Lily with false enthusiasm. "This is a very magical object!"  
  
Something in their tones made it obvious to Amelia that they were lying. "You don't believe me." She sounded honestly offended that they didn't   
think she was telling the truth. "You really don't believe me. Fine." She closed up the book and went to put it back. "Nobody does."  
  
Lily caught her by her chubby little wrist as she left. "Wait. I really do believe you." She knew what it was like to not have someone think you're telling the truth, but thinking of the event that brought it about made a lump in her throat. "Let's see that again."  
  
Amelia smiled again and took the quill out again. She wrote, this time, where Lily and James could see her. "Hi, Mr. Riddle."  
  
The ink was sucked into the page like invisible ink. A second later, words appeared in their place. "Hello. What's your name?"  
  
James took a step backwards. "Whoa."   
  
"Whoa" pretty much summed up Lily's thoughts, but she was too interested in seeing more to comment. Amelia wrote her name in the diary. "Amelia."   
  
The ink once again disappeared, then reappeared. "I like your name, Amelia. How did you come across my diary?"  
  
Lily was getting a growing sense of forboding as she tried to remember where she had heard the name "Tom Riddle" before. As Amelia was writing, "I found it in my attic," Lily snatched the diary out of her hands. "Amelia, I think we should show this to your mother."   
  
"Why?"   
  
"I think..." how do you tell an eight year old that there was something dangerous about an innocent-looking diary that talks back? "I think it might be broken."  
  
"Oh. Do you really think tho?"  
  
"Yes. Yes, and I'll see if I can fix it." She felt like a rat, telling a lie to the sweet little girl, but it might turn out for the better.   
  
"All right."  
  
  
  
  
That night, Lily sat up in bed with a bedside lamp on, turning the diary over and over in her hands. Where had she heard that name before? "Tom Riddle...Tom Riddle..." She whispered. It certainly was a riddle, she thought to herself. There was only one way, regretably, to find out. She took up a quill and wrote. "Hello. My name is Lily." She was about to write her last name, but thought better of it and let the ink soak in. The response came:  
  
_"Hello, Lily. Did you get my diary from Amelia?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
__"Where did she find it?"  
  
"Why should I tell you?"  
  
__"I'm laughing right now. It's refreshing to find someone with spirit."  
  
A chill ran down her spine thinking about Tom Riddle laughing, even though she was sure she had never heard him laugh before. "Oh."  
  
__"I mean it, Lily, where did she find it?"  
  
She kept her quill poised above the page for a second, wondering if she should tell. "In a bookstore," she lied.  
  
__"Oh. Where are you right now?"  
  
What could be the harm in telling him? "43 Tansboro Road."   
  
No words came back. Lily wrote again. "Hello?"  
  
The words were slow in coming, but there was a response. __"Would you like to see one of my...entries?"   
  
"All right."   
  
__"This entry is about the future."  
  
"What do you mean, 'the future?'"  
  
__"The future where our fates cross."  
  
The pages flew by as though blown by a wind, and it stopped on __"__October 31, 1981__." The square underneath the date looked like a television screen, so Lily looked inside. Before she knew it, she was standing in a small room. Fire burned all around the house she was now in, and a tall, pale figure in a dark cloak burst into the room, red eyes aflame. He held a wand before him, and laughed. He was laughing like Peter had in her vision! That high, cruel, icy laugh...  
  
He moved across the room, towards a person - no, two people - on the other side. There was a woman, probably thirty years old, with red hair and bright green eyes, clutching a tiny black-haired baby. The woman looked oddly familiar to her, but only became an object of her pity when she screamed and began begging.   
  
"Not Harry, Not Harry! Please - I'll do anything-"  
  
"Stand aside. Stand aside, girl!"  
  
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"  
  
"Stand aside, you silly girl...stand aside now!"  
  
"Not Harry, please no, take me, kill me instead! Not Harry! Please, have mercy...have mercy..."  
  
He raised his wand to her and yelled, "__AVADA KEDAVRA!" There was a flash of green light and the sound of wings, and Lily screamed as the woman's eyes suddenly looked exactly like Chantel's had. She screamed even louder, realizing who the woman was. It was her! She was looking at herself, dying! She saw her life end, and why; for that little black-haired baby boy. He reminded her of someone, but she didn't remember who...  
  
Lily ran forward and tried to pick the baby up and out of the merciless reaches of the wizard she now knew to be Voldemort. When her hands went right through him, she just stood in front of the baby and tried to offer one last defense to him, a few more seconds to live. But Voldemort ignored her and just shouted again, "__Avada__ Kedavra!" The baby went limp behind her, dead.   
  
Somehow, seeing that baby die seemed to rip her heart in two, and she broke down crying. Through the tears, she remembered what Tom Riddle had said to her: "The future where our fates cross..." Then, with a gasp, she remembered what Chantel had told her. Tom Riddle was the name Voldemort went by...before he turned evil!  
  
The next moment, she was laying in the bed at Sirius's house, unable to know whether it was just a dream._


	24. The Diary

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 24_

  
  
Quickly, Lily got to her feet and walked across the room. Shouting a rather _*cough* unsavory word after it, she threw it out the window. She didn't bother to see where it landed, just dove back into bed and lay there, shivering.   
  
  
  
The next morning, Sirius's mom went to work at her jewelry store ("**Black's Baubles") and they had to make their own breakfast. Amelia ushered them all out of the kitchen, saying that she would make a "Deliciouth thereal catherole" for them. Despite the jitters experienced by imagining what a cereal casserole was, they managed to have a serious conversation.  
  
"Guys, I figured out what was up with the diary," said Lily under her breath.   
  
"Hang on, Lily...time me, James." Sirius was balancing a spoon on his nose.  
  
James watched the clock as Sirius waltzed around the room, trying to get the right balance.  "No, I mean it, guys, this is serious!" Lily said angrily.  
  
He dropped the spoon, caught it deftly, and made an elegant bow. "In the flesh, milady."  
  
Lily fell into the pillows on the couch in frustration. Speaking into the pillows, she tried to find words that wouldn't be misunderstood. "What I mean is that I'm not joking around this time. Something is weird about that diary!"  
  
"Well, where is it?" James asked.  
  
Lily sat up and looked down at her hands. "I'm not sure."  
  
Sirius dropped the spoon again. "What do you mean, 'you're not sure?'"  
  
"Er..." She avoided saying the actual reason. What she did say, however, was, "Well, I wrote in the diary and it wrote back to me, and then it asked where I was right now."  
  
"**__Yeees?" Sirius had abandoned the spoon and was now more interested in Lily's story.  
  
"I told him the address. He was all quiet for a moment or two, then he asked if I'd like to see one of his 'entries...' and he showed me something about the future."  
  
She seemed to not want to say anything else about it, but the irrepressible Sirius kept going.  "Well, what was it? Fame? Fortune? Love?" he shot a glance over in James's direction, which, luckily for Sirius, James didn't see.   
  
Lily took a deep breath and continued. "There was a woman. She was holding a little baby, a baby with black hair, and he looked sort of familiar, but I couldn't place him. She had red hair and green eyes. She was running from something, that's all I could tell for a second or two, but then...Voldemort walked in." She re-lived the details in her head, feeling an icy fear crawl down her spine. "His eyes were glowing all red, like a fire. He told her to move  
out of the way, to stand aside, but she just kept screaming 'Not Harry!' and wouldn't get out of his way. She wouldn't let that baby go. He just shouted something at her, and there was a lot of green light, and she died. Right there, she died!"   
  
James had made the connection when Lily described the woman, and sat down rather hard in a chair, sending up a small cloud of dust. "Whoa."   
  
"That's not the worst! He just kicked her aside and went for the baby, did the exact same thing, and the baby died, and he was just laughing! Then I was back in bed and I don't know whether it was a dream or not!"  
  
"What happened to the diary?" Sirius seemed rather stuck.  
  
James stood up and grabbed Sirius by the shoulders, shaking the information into him.  "Don't you get it? That was __her! The woman was Lily, only older! And the baby was her son!  How did you not get that?"  
  
Sirius's disposition immediately changed. He did an exact imitation of James, plopping down in a chair and saying "Whoa."  
  
Lily shook her head. "No, guys, listen. That could have all been a dream, a bad dream, because I've been sort of paranoid lately." Sirius made a little sound in his throat that probably was meant as 'you're not the only one.' Lily continued. "That's not the point. I remember where I heard that name before. Cha- someone told me that Tom Riddle was Voldemort's given name."  
  
James sat down again, and this time, they both said, "Whoa."  
  
"Is that all you can say?" Lily teased.   
  
"No, Lily." James got up and motioned for Sirius to come with him. "I can say this, too: Sirius, come on upstairs."   
  
A rather bemused-looking Sirius followed James until the bottom of the stairs, then looked back at Lily and whispered, "Call the men in the white jackets."  
  
  
  
  
When James got upstairs, he made sure that they were out of earshot of Lily, then he turned to Sirius. "Sirius, do you remember how she described the baby? Her son?"  
  
"No, I was waiting for her to get to the part where she lost the diary. Did she ever say?"  
  
James growled in frustration. "She SAID that he had black hair! And reminded her of someone she knew!"  
  
"So?"   
  
"So? Are you off your rocker? WE have black hair!" Sirius didn't say anything, so James kept talking, hoping to jar his thought process. "Hello? And she knows us?"  
  
"Ooooh..." Sirius suddenly understood. Then he looked slyly at James. "Well...I'll never...but of course, if you-"  
  
"One more word, and I swear..." He clenched a fist at his side. "Look, there is nothing between me and Lily! You got it?"  
  
"Fine, fine, fine. I won't say another word, won't cast you another sideways glance, won't imply anything else. In all due respect, though...you don't expect me to...do you?" He looked fairly frightened. "Because I don't really think I'll ever...you know, like like anyone...like Chantel."  
  
It obviously was tough for Sirius to crawl out of his funny, tough exterior and bare his soul like this, because he turned around and walked back down the stairs at this. James was suddenly surprised at himself. He knew that Sirius didn't feel like that about Lily, and he knew that there was nothing between himself and Lily, so why had he brought it up at all?  He shook his head, clearing his mind of it. Probably just confused, looking for some logical  
connection. It was probably only a dream, after all. And so, he followed Sirius downstairs.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The rest of the week passed by with nothing so monumental as the finding of the diary, although there was much shrieking on Amelia's part when she realized that Lily had thrown it out the window. Amelia decided to give the offendor the 'silent treatment,' so the house was quieter (much to Sirius's delight).   
  
When Lily and James returned to the Potters' house, Mr. Potter had a question for Lily.  "Do you remember last year on the day I got called off to the Ministry on a false alarm?"  
  
"It never happened!" She said quickly.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Oh..." she realized that wasn't what he was talking about. "Never mind. Yes, I remember."  
  
"Well, you said that Lord Voldemort tried to kill you. Do you have any idea why he didn't?"  
  
Lily dug through her memory, trying to remember even the faintest detail from what had happened then. She had been only half-conscious for most of the ordeal from lack of oxygen, but she still tried to figure it out. "He came up behind me, pressed his wand against my throat.  He blocked me from moving away, and then it all started to go black, but I remember!" She brightened up suddenly. "I remember now, he said something about how I only had half the magic, and then I guess I was totally unconcious. Sorry."   
  
Mr. Potter was tapping the counter pensively. "That's all right. Let's see...Why do you think he was after you in the first place?"  
  
"A long time ago, in my first year, he said that there was a lot of power coming from me.  He wanted me on his side, wanted me to be a dark wizard, but I said no, and-"  
  
"Ah-ha!" Mr. Potter had started pacing back and forth, looking very excited. "That's it!  He is afraid that you'll overthrow him in the future, or at least he WAS afraid. Then, he realized that you only had HALF the magic that would have been necessary to get rid of him!"  
  
Lily stood up, too, eyes wide open with excitement. "And in that diary entry, he didn't want to kill me, but he had to, to get to my son!"  
  
Mr. Potter stopped pacing and turned to Lily, looking very worried. "What do you mean?"  
  
She had to relate the whole 'entry' that Riddle had played out for her, and Mr. Potter's expression became graver and graver, even though Lily told him repeatedly that it was probably only a dream. "Lily, thank you for telling me this. True, it's a terrible prediction, but it still helps us out a lot. This tells us that your magic has to combine with another magic to create that son...the magic in him is obviously powerful enough to defeat Voldemort!"  
  
James spoke up. "But he killed the baby in the diary, remember?"  
  
He waved his hand like it was of no importance. "Divination, that's all it is. Probably missed something in predicting it. For all we know, that's a dream. And I'd advise you both to think of it as just that, a dream, all right?"  
  
They both nodded their heads, but Mr. Potter knew that they really thought of it as truth.  He sighed and shook his head sadly. "I never thought I'd have to do this, but it's the only way to make sure...__Obliviate!" And instantly, neither of them remembered anything about the 'prediction.'  
  
  
  
  
It was September 1st, 1963, and they were boarding the Hogwarts Express. Platform 9 3/4 seemed even more crowded than usual, since they got there a little late. They met up with Sirius and Remus on the train as it departed and Mr. Potter waved a "Peace" sign at them from the platform. Sirius looked across at Lily and asked, "Any new thoughts on that diary?"  
  
"Huh? What diary?"   
  
Sirius had told Remus about it, and they looked confusedly at each other. "You know, that diary that Amelia gave to you? Riddle's diary?"  
  
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. Do you know what they mean, James?"  
  
James shook his head, and Sirius, though confused, shrugged. "All right. No diary."  
  
A pale fourth-year with silvery-blonde hair and cold gray eyes walked in, holding a little black book. "Oh, I'm sorry for intruding." He sounded like he couldn't care less. "I'm just looking for an empty compartment."   
  
Sirius leaped up and pointed. "That's it! That's the diary!"  
  
The boy stared coldly at Sirius and said, "If it IS a diary, it's none of your business."  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes and sat back down. "Fine. Whatever."   
  
The boy left, slinking out as slimily as he had come in. Sirius made a disgusted face.  "Lucius Malfoy. Prat if there ever was one. He lives next door, you know, but he's always acted as if our backyard is his own. Mum's always chasing his dog off with a broom."  
  
This lightened the mood a bit, making them all laugh. "Well, don't worry about him, he's in Slytherin and hangs around with Severus Snape." Remus made a face. "Birds of a feather..."  
  
Peter came into the compartment, and Lily again found herself unable to show the utter revulsion she felt at his presence. The train chugged along, its iron exterior speaking nothing of the secrets being carried inside.   
  
  
_


	25. The Bracelet

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 25_

A/N: Thank you for those of you that are reviewing my fics. I really appreciate it.  I would also like to thank Clara Maplewood for all her input on my stories.  
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
Lily couldn't believe it, she was now in her third year. The spells had gotten harder, she stayed up late at night working on essays and projects.  Bags were displayed under her eyes constantly, making her cranky and tierd mood visible.  
  
As Lily walked through the halls of Hogwarts, in the direction of her next class, which unfortunately was Potions, a familiar looking boy approached her.  
  
Lily recognized him, he was from her Potions class.   
  
"Hi Lily!" He called.  
  
Who was this? He looked oddly familiar, but who was he? How did he know her name?  
  
"Hi......" She was trying to figure out his name.  "I don't mean to be rude, but I don't remember your name."  
  
"Oh, My name is Arthur Weasley, we were partners in a Charms assignment once, remember?"  
  
"Oh, yes. I was almost certain that I had done something permanent to your fingers......sorry about that, it was an accident," She said, feeling a bit uncomfortable with the subject.  
  
"That is alright. I was wondering......"  
  
"Yes?" She asked, now curious.  
  
"Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?" He asked, swaying nervously back and forth.  
  
She was about to tell him that she thought that he was sweet, but not the person that she would go out with. Her mouth betrayed her mind. Before she knew it, she had blurted out the answer.  
  
"Yes, I will go with you." She said, still debating if she had made the right choice.  
  
"Great.....can I walk you to Potions class?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Arthur IS kind of cute, Lily thought, I could grow to like him.  
  
Arthur started making conversation, and Lily found out that he was actually interesting. He was sorted in Gryffindor, just as Lily, and he played on the Quidditch team as a chaser. He was about two inches shorter than Lily, with flaming-bold red hair.  He had hazel eyes that sparkled slightly, from time to time.   
  
  
Lily met up with James, Sirius, and Remus at a lunch table, that afternoon.  "Hi! You have detention already?!" She asked, while James and Sirius, looking very satisfied with themselves, were waving their detention passes for the whole Great Hall to see.  
  
"Yep! We made Mrs. Norris grow an extra head." Sirius stated, with a smile that could have taken him to Jupiter.  
  
"We thought, if she grew an extra head, she might actually have a pea for a brain.  Professor Dumbledore didn't share the same opinion though." Said James, while digging into his food.  
  
"Well, I have an announcement.....I have a date for the Yule Ball!" Lily said excitedly.  
  
Sirius gave a weak glance over to James' side of the table, "Who?"  
  
"His name is Arthur Weasley."  
  
"Oh, Lily, you can do SSOOO much better than that." Sirius stated.  
  
"Sirius!!! How can you say that?! He is very nice, and interesting.  He is in our house and plays on our Quidditch team." She said, trying to defend Arthur.  
  
James didn't say anything, suddenly he became very interested in staring at his mashed potatoes.   
  
"Where is Remus?" Lily asked, changing the conversation to a different topic.  
  
"He was sent to the Hospital Wing," Then James grew quiet, "Last night was a full moon."  
  
"Did he hurt himself?" She asked, concernly.  
  
"Yes....Sirius here.....thought it would be funny to bash him against the tree...VERY forcefully."   
  
"Heeeeyyy!!!" Sirius said in defense. "I said I was sorry."   
  
Lily had bursted out in giggles by the tone of his voice, she apparently had taken a drink of water before hand. Now, because of laughter, it was spraying out her dainty nose.  
  
  
  
  
"James?" Remus asked, after he got excused from the Hospital Wing.  
  
"Yeah?" He answered, not looking up.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
"Sure....what makes you say that?"  
  
"I don't know..maybe the way you are acting." Remus said sympathetically. "I heard that Lily got asked to the ball, and said yes. Is that what this is about?"  
  
"No, It's just that I don't want to go to the ball, if Sirius doesn't go."  
  
"You two....I swear, must be soul brothers. You can still go, even if Sirius chooses not to."  
  
"I know, but who will be there to keep him company?"  
  
"You know Sirius, he could keep a mouse occupied."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The night of the dance came fairly quickly; Lily was up in her dorm, pacing back and forth. She had always had either Chrissy or Chantel to help her pick out the right dress, make-up, and shoes. A pain of guilt rammed its way through her brain, YOU are the reason why they aren't here, its all your fault!  
  
She cradled her head in her hands, looking around the room, staring at their old beds.  
  
Their things had never been moved, since they died. Lily's heart ached too much to see their belongings go, so Dumbledore said that they would leave everything as it was before their deaths.  
  
  
  
While sitting on her bed, a familiar sound came from the window. She opened the shudders, it revealed an owl. This owl was dark, ashes covered its' feathers.   
  
It flew in, dropped a letter on her bed, and then flew away. Lily ran over to her bed, grasped the letter in her shaking hand. The last time she had received a letter, she was informed that her parents were dead. Should she open it? Lily couldn't contain her eagerness, she ripped open the paper letter, there was no letter, instead a bracelet found its' way to the floor of her dorm.  
  
She bent down and picked up the bracelet. It was black, with a fancy charm hanging from the lace. It was a very odd charm, it must have been very old, because Lily couldn't figure out what the imprinted design was, but there were many squiggly lines coming from all directions, meeting in the middle.  
  
Turning the charm over and backwards, peering at the bracelet, she could almost see a single man, that was connected by many lines. She knew that this meant something, but the question was, was it bad or good luck?  
  
  
  
  
(A/N): I know that this fic was sort of boring, but in the next one, it will   
have the night of the dance, and Lily will find something VERY important   
about the charm on her bracelet. Please R/R!! No flaming please!!!


	26. Servants

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 26_

A/N: Thanks to The Hairy One for informing me that Arthur and Molly were at Hogwarts far before the Potters were. However, I can't back up and just pretend that #25 never happened, so please just bear with me for one more fic.   
  
  
  
  
   
  
  
Lily sat staring at the bracelet for a good five minutes. That symbol was something...it was either very good or utterly evil. Did the chance that it was good luck outweigh the possibility of evil?   
  
She looked up at the two empty beds again and slowly fastened the bracelet around her wrist. She could use some good luck.   
  
  
  
  
The four Marauders sat in the common room, waiting for their dates. Sirius wasn't, though; he wasn't planning on going to the dance. James looked tense, Peter looked impassive, but Remus just looked hungry.   
  
"Did they HAVE to push dinner back just for the dance?" he moaned, massaging his stomach. "It's torture!"  
  
Sirius shoved him jokingly. "You've been feeding your face since lunchtime anyways!"   
  
Remus glared at him. "You're not exactly fasting, yourself, Padfoot."  James rolled his eyes, causing Remus's laser-beam glance to turn in his direction. "What about you, Prongs? Going with Lil-"  
  
He was cut off by a large pillow to the face. "Shut up about that, will you? It's really not that big a deal."   
  
"Jeez! Wow, someone's uptight." Sirius was sprawled across the end cushion of the couch and was grinning sardonically.   
  
"Well, Lily's a nice person and all that, but she's just a little..." he tapped his temple. "Ditzy."  
  
"Ditzy?" Remus's mouth hung open. "James, she's outdone you in Charms more times than I could count."  
  
"But that's it, isn't it? If she _is smart, she doesn't exactly show it all that much.  At least, not around us. I don't know about you, but I really value intelligence in a girl, and she just doesn't fit the bill. Ow!" He was knocked back onto the chair by the same pillow that he had thrown at Remus. Then, the sound of feminine chattering descending the staircase made him spring up again. "All of you, be quiet! That's my date!"  
  
Her voice was a little high-pitched and very silly-sounding. "So, then he walked up to me and-RIGHT in front of all of my friends, you can ask them-he says, 'so, Molly, would you like to go to the dance with me?' I know! I know, isn't that AMAZING? I mean, he's sooo cute, and he's the Seeker and everything, and he, like, really, really, hot!" her gaggle of friends burst into giggles of aggreement at this remark. "I know! I know! Isn't that just the most groovy thing you ever heard? It's just- oh, hiiiii, James! Ready?"   
  
Sirius was clutching his sides and shaking with silent laughter. Remus was less discreet.  "James? Could I have a word?" He yanked James aside and talked to him in a lowered voice.  "Are you out of your cotton-pickin' mind?  I mean, if Lily's ditzy, what's Molly?"  
  
James crossed his arms defensively. "Hey, do you have any right to talk like that about my date?"  
  
"Well, you're pretty much...you said that you really value intelligence in a girl!"  
  
"You still don't have any right to talk like that about my date." He pushed his way past Remus and linked arms with the still-chattering Molly.  
  
"Sorry I'm a little bit late, I was just sitting there trying to get a response out of Harriet, but she was just sitting there on her bed, I thought, so she just wasn't talking to me and I got all sad, 'cause I thought she didn't want to be my friend anymore, so I was screaming at her, then I realized it was just her pillow, haha. So anyways..."  
  
She was still chattering like a Kookaburra when James turned around and addressed the breathless Sirius and the smirking Remus and Peter. "So sue me," he muttered quietly before leading Molly out the portrait hole.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Lily looked at herself in her mirror. The first thought that came to her mind was exactly what the mirror said to her: "What a mess!"  
  
Lily glared at wherever the mirror's eyes were, probably. "I've never done this alone, give me a break!" The mirror just laughed wheezily, and Lily looked herself over again.  The part in her hair was completely crooked, even though she had spent at least fifteen minutes straightening it carefully. Her hair itself was like a rust-colored bird's nest, tumbling hopelessly down her back to where it met her mismatched dress robes: An orange silk shawl over a purple velvet gown. She sighed. "You know how it could get worse?"  
  
"I absolutely can't imagine, my dear."  
  
"Brace yourself. I still have to pick out shoes."   
  
With much trouble, she managed to decide on a pair of army-green monstrosities that had been passed onto her by her older sister, Petunia. Clutching a teal purse, Lily made her way down the dormitory stairs, the mirror's laughter following her into the Common Room.   
  
Sirius was holding his ribs and gasping for air when she walked in, obviously laughing...at her! Before Remus could shut his gaping mouth or Sirius could stop laughing, she walked over and hit Sirius upside the head with her purse. Lily was about to hit Remus, but he stopped her arm befor the bag connected with his ear. "Whoa, whoa! I think there's a misunderstanding!"  
  
"Just because I have the worst luck ever in picking out clothes doesn't give either of you the right to laugh at me!" she scolded shrilly.  
  
"And just because Sirius is laughing when you walk into the common room doesn't give YOU the right to assume he's laughing at you." He let go of Lily's wrist. "We were laughing because James was on a spiel about how much he values intelligence in a girl, then that Molly McLeland comes down the stairs and goes down to the ball with him!"  
  
Lily's anger melted instantly at the vision of the red-headed, roly-poly Molly chattering away on James's arm. She sat down next to Sirius and started laughing almost as hard as he was.   
  
That instant, Gilderoy Lockhart glided into the common room as though he was a king wading among the common people. "Hello, hello, everyone!" he turned to Lily and winked. "My dear fiery-haired charmer." Turning to Sirius, Remus, and Peter in that order, he nodded majestically. "The lover in mourning, the brooding face-stuffer, and...What's your name again? Doesn't really matter, does it? Well, I'd just like you all to know that I have a faaaaabulous date. Ravenclaw...fourth year...QUITE the beauty, I must say, but..." he cupped his own face in his hand. "What DO you expect? Resistance?"  
  
Lily rubbed her temples. "Leave, while we're all still in a good mood."  
  
"Fine, fine, fine. I must go and meet Jessica, musn't I? Oh, but she is GORGEOUS!" He obviously was quite taken with his date's beauty, as he knocked his head against the frame of the portrait as he climbed out the hole. However, the accidental nature of this was thrown into doubt as the Fat Lady's voice was heard faintly.  
  
"Hmmph. Serves the miniature egomaniac right, I say."  
  
  
  
  
The ball had begun. James had already danced with Molly (which explained why his ears and toes both hurt an equal amount, Peter had already massacred his date's toes and she had stormed out in a huff, and Remus had completely ignored Vanessa for the appetizers. Lily was still waiting for Arthur in the common room.  
  
James was sitting down at the Gryffindor table next to Molly, holding his ears discreetly, and Remus was pigging out on a plateful of stuffed mushrooms. "Hey, Prongs...have you TRIED these? They're fantastic!"  
  
James wrinkled his nose at the gray, garlic-stuffed mushroom thrust under it. "Um...no, thanks." he pushed it away and sighed. "Molly, aren't you hungry?"   
At the mention of food, she hopped up and, still chattering, made her way to the table of appetizers. James leaned back in his chair and clapped a hand over his eyes. "What in chocolate frogs was I thinking?"  
  
"Not much," Remus managed to mumble out through a mouthful of stuffing.  
  
"Can you just...not joke around?"  
  
Remus swallowed. "Sorry. I was just really hungry!"  
  
"Yeah...whatever. Look, do YOU have any idea why I asked Molly out?"  
  
"Why are you asking me? I'm just an innocent bystander, you know." A look from James sobered him up. "All right, all right. You're not going to like this, though. Basically, I think that you asked her out because..."   
  
James knew that Remus was still talking, but somehow it was blocked out. He had shifted his gaze to the door, and right through had walked a girl with long, tangled red hair, an orange silk shawl draped awkwardly over her shoulders, a purple dress, and too-large green shoes. All in all, she looked like a two-year-old who had tried to dress herself for the first time. But that truth somehow threw itself from the heights of James's mind.  All he saw walking in the door was a girl he couldn't take his eyes off of, and it wasn't from shock at her crazy wardrobe. It was from some new, overwhelming feeling that blocked all his normal senses from working; as though he was looking at Lily for the first time.  
  
Then, he was brought back to the normal world by a tap on the shoulder by Remus. Remus leaned forward and lowered his voice. "That's why, James."  
  
  
  
  
Lily clung bad-temperedly to Arthur's arm, muttering in his ear. "I can't believe you were late JUST because you were answering an owl from your mum. Was it REALLY that important?"  
  
Arthur shrugged. "Well, she likes it when I answer her mail really quick."  Lily rolled her eyes and sighed exasperatedly as she was led over to the Gryffindor table.  Arthur pulled out her chair and smiled apologetically. "I'll go get some punch or something, all right?"   
  
"Sure." she watched as he walked away, nearly colliding with Molly McLeland as she made her way around the buffet table as though stocking up for a famine. Lily sat back in her seat and wondered to herself why she had ever said 'yes.'  
  
Suddenly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Severus Snape looking down his wickedly curved nose at her. "Hello, Lily."   
  
Lily shrank away from his touch. "Hello, Severus."  
  
"I was wondering if you would give me the honor of this dance."  
  
Something was wrong here. Normally, Severus Snape avoided Gryffindors at all costs, especially friends of James. "Wh-why?"  
  
He smiled a thin, twisted smile. It looked painful. "Can't a person ask a lady to dance without being interrogated?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then you'll dance with me?"  
  
"No."  
  
He scowled darkly and walked away. Something was definitely wrong, Lily decided. If it had just been a stupid dare, Severus would have been all too happy that she had declined the offer. But no, he had looked distinctly disappointed...or angry.   
  
  
  
  
  
James had gathered Remus and Peter together and were giving them instructions. "Listen, whenever Lily is dancing with Arthur...try to cut in, all right?"  
  
Remus understood completely, but Peter was confused. "Why?"  
  
"Please don't ask me!" he snapped desperately. "Just...first dance, it's you, Moony, next, it's you."  
  
"Why not you?" This time, it was Peter and Remus in unison.  
  
"Trust me!" James said loudly. He watched as Arthur asked Lily to dance and walked out onto the dance floor. A sick feeling started in the pit of his stomach, but he fought it down and walked halfheartedly to where Molly stood, mercifully, eating instead of talking.  
  
  
  
  
Lily was finding that Arthur, though a generally nice person, was not the best date in the world. He couldn't find much to talk about, and every time they made contact while dancing, his ears went very, very red and he just looked down at his feet to make sure they were going in the right directions. Since she knew he couldn't see her, she rolled her eyes upward as though asking for some sort of help.   
  
That help came in the form of a familiar voice. "May I cut in?" Remus was standing dignifiedly next to the careening couple. Arthur willingly broke away and rushed to the Gryffindor table, burying his face in a napkin embarrassedly. Remus proved to be a much better dancer than Arthur; he never went out of time with the music, and he didn't seem at all bashful about holding her hand like the dance dictated.   
  
"What exactly are you up to?" she asked, smiling. "Is this one of yours and James's pranks?"  
  
"What do you mean? Nothing about James. Nothing."  
  
"Okay." She shrugged as best she could while they were dancing. "Just wondering." They danced for most of the song, but then a girl in fire-red dress robes stormed over and practically shoved Lily out of the way. Her angry, black coffee-colored eyes shot a poisonous glare in Lily's direction as she danced possessively with Remus. Lily, left without a dancing partner, muttered to herself. "That would be Vanessa."  
  
The dance ended quickly, much to Vanessa's dismay. Lily noticed, however, that Vanessa's large hands kept an unusually tight grip on Remus's arm as they stormed back to the Ravenclaw table. Lily headed back in the direction of her seat, but Arthur cut her off just before she sat down. "Would you please dance with me? And...keep dancing, this time?"  
  
"Oh..." He really looked hurt, and it was kind of hard to resist such an obviously heartfelt invitation. "Sure."  
  
He grinned lopsidedly and swept Lily back to the dance floor for about another three-quarters of a dance full of confusion. At about that point, Peter remembered his role and went at it with a spirit.   
  
Before she could react, Lily was dancing with him. She had put her hand on his shoulder, he had put his on her hip, and their other hands were holding each other. Her mind screamed with disgust that she was actually holding that hand...the hand that had been soaked in Chantel's blood not so long ago! Her stomach heaved at the realization that she was actually this close to a murderer.   
  
He smiled a perfectly cordial smile, but in Lily's eyes it was twisted and insane. He leaned forward a little and whispered in her ear. "I know where he put the dagger."  
  
She couldn't pull away! The same curse that prevented her from giving away his name as that of the murderer stopped her physically from moving away from him! He wasn't holding her any tighter than normal, but she felt like the air was being strangled from her.   
  
Again, he whispered gratingly in her ear. "Liking that curse? It's the convenient way to silence people we need to stay quiet...but people who could be useful to us in the future."  
  
The curse spoke for her. "You're a rather good dancer." She practically choked on the words that came out of her mouth. Lily wanted to scream that this was him, this was the rat who murdered Chantel, that Sirius should come and punish him somehow! That...she gulped thinking about this...that this boy, who she was dancing with, this boy should be thrown into Azkaban for life.   
  
The dance ended, and Peter let go, smiling mockingly.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Lily was very shaken by that encounter, and she sat down as far from Peter as she could without being alone: at the Ravenclaw table. Remus cast her a pleading glance as his date's red-painted nails dug into his forearm. Lily smiled nervously; behind Remus, Vanessa was throwing burning glares in her direction.   
  
Arthur had given up and was listening to Molly chatter away near the punch bowl. Oddly (and miraculously) enough, he seemed to be hanging on her every word.   
  
Peter seemed to have left; Lily didn't spot him anywhere. She breathed a sigh of relief and started to walk across the dance floor to the Gryffindor table. That tense breath was sucked right back into her lungs as she felt a pair of rough hands seize her and force her into a dancing position. She looked up, only to see the malevolently gleaming black eyes of Severus Snape staring down at her. "You!" she gasped out.   
  
He grasped her tighter and spoke sharply. "Me. Now, listen, you little Mudblood. I know that you know more about Chessy and Kentell, or whatever their names were, that you let on.  I know that you know exactly how both of them were killed, because I know you were there."  
  
He was squeezing the breath from her lungs, so she just managed to choke out words.  "Chrissy and Chantel!"  
  
"It's not important!" he raged. "I need to know this. Now, tell me. Tell me about the blonde-haired one first."  
  
"You know what happened, she was killed by Voldemort!"   
  
"How?!?" He didn't let up at all, only squeezed harder.   
  
"He set a wolf on her!"  
  
"A werewolf, am I correct?"  
  
Lily was silent. Her first instinct had been to tell him that he was correct, but then, she realized that she would have to say the werewolf's human name for Severus to be satisfied. Her mind flashed back to the first night she was at Hogwarts...she had been thrown down a secret passage to the Shrieking Shack, and Remus had attacked her, but then, when he transformed back into a human..."promise you'll never tell," that's what he had said.   
  
"I said, am I correct?" Her air was completely cut off. Severus was stronger than he looked, she thought, as darkness started to swirl. Then, her lungs re-inflated with startling suddenness. Severus had been knocked backwards by a well-aimed punch to the face.  
  
Lily got her vision back into focus and realized who it was. "James!" She scrambled to her feet and took out her wand, running forward to help.   
  
"Stay out of this, Lily!" He yelled, pushing her back.   
  
"This is about me; it's my fight!" she shouted angrily.  
  
"Stay out of it!" He pushed her back again, blocking a punch from Severus. They both whipped out their wands and circled around each other, teeth bared.   
  
Severus, taking advantage of James's preoccupation with getting Lily out of the way, shouted, "Serpensortia!" A huge black snake flew out of the wand and towards James, ready to sink its fangs into his shoulder, but James moved at the nick of time, letting the snake lock its jaws around his wand.   
  
James was just about to remove the snake from his wand and send a spell at Severus, but Dumbledore was suddenly in between them, blue eyes burning fiercely. "May I ask what's going on here?"  
  
"He was suffocating Lily!" James growled, still staring fixedly at Severus.   
  
Severus raised an eyebrow. "Dancing with a girl is hardly suffocating her, I'd say, Headmaster."  
  
"Why don't you just-"   
  
"That's enough!" Dumbledore cut James off before he said something that would land him in detention. "I must say, I would never have expected this of two students of your caliber!"  
  
"Jealousy __is far below his level, Headmaster," Severus said, his hawk-like black eyes twinkling wickedly.   
  
Lily stepped forward. "He wasn't jealous, you little-" Dumbledore cleared his throat, and she backpedaled. "He wasn't jealous! You practically crushed my ribs!"  
  
"Can I help it if I'm not the best dancer?"   
  
"It had nothing to-" then Lily stopped. What was she doing? Rushing to the defense of James? James, who had just told her to "stay out of" her own fight? She stopped talking and remained quiet.   
  
Dumbledore looked from Lily to Severus to James, then back to Lily. "Can I trust you three that this will not happen again?" Three heads nodded. "Good. Mr. Snape, Mr. Potter, five points from each of your houses. Make sure this never happens again," he added seriously as he walked back up to the High Table and resumed the ball, looking only a bit pensive as he reviewed the different stories in his mind._


	27. Lily's Revenge

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 27_

A/N: This really doesn't have much of a plot, or anything to do with the rest of the story, but it's an enjoyable read! To all Americans: Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!  
  
  
   
  
  
In the common room, James was holding his ears again. Everyone else had gone into the dormitories except he and Lily, and she was, frankly, giving him hell. 

  
"What are you, some kind of chauvinist? I walk up, and I've got my wand-I can fend for myself, you know!-and you say, 'stay out of this, Lily,' like I can't!" James just sat there, holding his ears and taking it. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to fight back.  "That was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to me, you idiot! You just shoved me aside like a dust bunny or something that was in your way! Well, say something!  Don't you have anything to say for yourself?"  
  
He stood up slowly and looked Lily straight in the eyes. "Yes, I do. I'm sorry." Then, without another word, he turned and walked up the dormitory steps.   
  
Lily sat down with a frustrated sigh and looked after James just in time to see the silvery material fall down the stairs out of his pocket. She got to her feet and picked it up.  As she held the Invisibility Cloak, a mischievous smile crossed her angry features.   
  
"Teach HIM to call me 'Mudblood,'" she muttered to herself, sweeping the cloak over her head.   
  
  
  
  
Lily walked down the corridor, trying to find some Slytherin to follow to their common room entrance. She saw a Gryffindor or two, a Hufflepuff, and she even caught sight of Vanessa's fire-colored robes retreating behind a statue of an eagle, but not a single Slytherin walked by. Until, that is, she saw a pale-faced boy with silvery blonde hair walk by. She followed Lucius, stepping softly in his wake.   
  
When they reached a long stretch of bare stone wall, Lucius shouted out, "Parseltongue!" and a hidden door opened in the stone wall. He, and, unbeknownst to him, Lily, walked through the door and into the common room.   
  
Lily wrinkled her nose. It really was pretty gloomy in here, no wonder most Slytherins turned out to be evil. It had rough, unwelcoming stone walls and ceiling, from which hung chains with green-tinted lights at the end. There was an elaborate mantelpiece right in front of them, and high-backed chairs were scattered around the room.  (A/N: most of this description can be found in CoS. I didn't plagiarize exactly, but many of the terms are straight out of the book.)  
  
Lucius yawned, rather bored, obviously, and walked up the forbidding-looking stairs to the boy's dormitory. Lily followed, holding her breath in anticipation of what a Slytherin boys' dormitory must smell like.   
  
Once in the dormitory, Lily waited until Lucius was more or less asleep. Then, she slowly opened the curtains of the first bed she could find. Luckily enough, it was Severus Snape, looking as sour as ever. His hand was lying, open, out to his side.   
  
Lily giggled evilly. Exactly what she wanted. She took out the shaving cream she had picked up just for this occasion and filled his hand with it. Using an old Muggle trick she had learned in Girl Scout Camp, she tickled his face with a feather and watched as he smeared the shaving cream all over his own face. Lily looked around the room for something else to do. Just making him look like the Abominable Snowman wasn't enough, she had to do something that would really   
embarrass him...Then, she noticed a large box holding the closet partially open. 

  
"Filibuster's No-match, Wet-Start fireworks..." she read to herself. She grabbed a few and wedged them under Severus's mattress, charming them with her wand to go off as soon as he woke up. Lily left, still chuckling wickedly.   
  
  
  
The next morning in the common room, Lily's mood had somewhat improved, though her ribs were still sore. She still was a little icy towards James in light of his pigheaded response the previous night at the dance. She had woken up early, and was waiting to give James his cloak back.   
  
James, however, was a late riser, and Lily had to wait until the common room was nearly full to accomplish her mission. He walked in, avoiding Lily's side of the room with a slightly frightened look on his face, and Lily sprang up and walked across to him.  "You dropped your cloak last night. Here." She shoved it abruptly into his hands.   
  
"Oh! Um...thanks," he said. Then his expression turned suspicious. "You didn't..."  
  
His answer came in the form of several loud explosions and a resounding, "YEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!" emanating from the direction of the Slytherin dormitories.


	28. Sirius's Foolish Prank

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 28_

A/N: I've been thinking, and "The Lily Series" is a kind of prosaic name for its content.  I need a title that will get people interested faster, but I can't think of anything! Please, when you review, offer some suggestions for a new title. I'm open to suggestions!  
  
Disclaimer: Everything that belongs to J.K. is hers. Have a nice day!  
  
  


  
  
James gawked at Lily. "What did you do?" he demanded.  
  
Lily shrugged as though it was of no importance, but her words cut like a knife. "I didn't stay out of the way, that's for sure."  
  
"Hey, I said I was sorry about that!"  
  
"What if that's not enough?"  
  
"What IS enough?"  
  
"Forget it. All I did was go to the Slytherin boys' dormitories, find Severus, get shaving cream all over his face...Shaving cream is a white, fluffy cream. Muggle men use it to shave their faces; they don't have Shaving Charms...and set a few fireworks off under his mattress."  
  
James gawked again. "Are you kidding me?"  
  
"No. Like I said, I can fend for myself." She seemed pretty satisfied with herself.  
  
James shook his head. "I guess you can." He laughed a little at what Severus Snape must have looked like at that moment, with white fluffy cream all over his face, and jumping up and down from the fireworks.   
  
Then, Sirius came down the stairs, closely followed by Remus. Sirius had obviously been told everything that had happened at the dance, because he sat down next to James and crossed his arms paternally. "Denial, denial! All this time, you said 'oh, it never ha-"  
  
Remus had tackled him and stuffed a small pillow in his mouth. "Shut up!"  
  
Sirius wrestled him away and removed the pillow. "All right. Item two. What are we going to do about that idiot?"  
  
"What idiot?" James seemed a little clueless.  
  
Sirius sighed. "You have much to learn, Grasshopper." He stood up, slicked back his hair, and sneered, imitating the "idiot" in question. "Out of my way, Potter!"  
  
"Oh, you mean Snape."   
  
Sirius clapped a hand over his forehead and fell back onto the couch in exasperation.  "Yes, I mean Snape. I have an idea about what to do."   
  
"What?" Remus's eyes shone eagerly. Lily and James had each gotten their revenge already, but he wanted some of his own. "What can we do?"  
  
Sirius leaned in to whisper a plan. "Listen, first we tell him how-"  
  
He was interrupted by Professor Dumbledore walking into the common room and clearing his throat. "Mr. Lupin?"  
  
Remus stood up and followed him out of the portrait hole, turning back at one point. He drew, in the air, the shape of a full moon and sighed. Sirius noticed that more students were coming downstairs, so he just smiled and said, "Trust me on this one. It'll be great!"  
  
  
  
That morning at breakfast, Sirius finished quickly and got up, looking very excited about something. He beckoned for Peter to come with him. They walked past the Slytherin Table, and Lily could hear Sirius saying very loudly, "You have to freeze the Whomping Willow by pressing that knot, Peter. Then we can go down the secret passage." He finished speaking right as they passed Severus Snape's seat, leaning in a little closer to Snape as he spoke.   
  
Lily looked confusedly at James. "What do you think he's trying to do?"  
  
James shrugged, purposely avoiding Lily's emerald gaze. "Does anyone ever know what Sirius is trying to do?" She laughed, sending a shiver down James's spine.   
  
Peter and Sirius returned to the table, and Peter glanced sideways for the briefest instant at Lily, making her stomach turn. Then, he dropped his eyes down to the silver charm bracelet she still wore on her wrist. A smile crossed his face, but only Lily seemed to realize that it wasn't a friendly smile, but a mocking one. A smile that teased, as though he knew something she didn't. A mad, maddening smile.   
  
James shot Sirius a quizzical look. "What was all that about?"  
  
Sirius just smiled and made the "quiet" gesture, putting a finger to his own lips. "You'll know in a day."   
  
James's curiosity wouldn't allow him to shrug it off and wait until the next day to know what Sirius was planning. He retreated into quiet thought, trying to figure out what could possibly be going on.   
  
  
  
It was halfway through Charms when Professor McGonagall walked through the door.  "Miss Evans? May I see you for a moment?" Lily got up and hesitantly followed McGonagall.  She led out the door and closed it behind them. "Miss Evans, you have shown astounding magical potential in your years here."  
  
"Thank you, Professor." Lily was quite flattered. Professor McGonagall gave few compliments, if any, to students.  
  
"You have demonstrated very good work habits, and you are, frankly, a shining example of a Hogwarts student. It's because of this that Professor Dumbledore and myself have decided to promote you to the fourth year."  
  
Lily's jaw dropped in shock. She had read through Hogwarts, a History, and there was no mention of students being promoted any number of years at Hogwarts! This must be a huge honor! "Th-tha--thank you!"   
  
"Of course, we will be supplying you with a new set of books, and a new schedule. We have no doubt that you will exceed expectations in this new position."  
  
Lily felt slightly dizzy. "Um...thank you...I've got to get back to class now...thank you!"  
  
As she turned back and put her hand on the doorknob, McGonagall placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Your things will be moved to the Fourth Year girls' dormitory."   
  
This didn't hold any water with Lily. It wasn't earth-shattering information.   
  
At least, not until later on in Charms class.   
  
She was about to perform the Cutting Charm. Her wand was pointed at a carrot lying placidly on the desk. "Slicio Cari……!" In dismay, she forgot to finish the charm, not to mention that she missed the carrot completely.  Aside from clipping off the top of Professor Flitwick's hat, the beam from her wand sliced the desk in half. The wand dropped out of her hand. She was moving out of her dormitory...she wouldn't be alone anymore. Her first reaction was excitement, but then she got a sick feeling in her stomach, realizing how easy it would now be to forget Chrissy and Chantel, in the midst of everyone else. And what about the poor fourth year girls? Every single person she got close to was at risk of attack by Voldemort, she knew that. Voldemort - she didn't even like to say the name anymore - would go to any lengths to hurt her. Should she talk to Professor McGonagall about it? What would she do?   
  
The questions screeched to a halt when Professor Flitwick's dismayed squeak reached her ears. "Well...thank you, Lily, but I wasn't planning on getting my hair cut for a few weeks."  
  
Lily's cheeks went as red as her hair. "Reparo," she muttered, fixing her desk. "Sorry, Professor."   
  
  
  
  
  
Lily kept the news to herself until that night in the common room. Sirius was still grinning from ear to ear, at times laughing like a hyena for no apparent reason. Peter was milling around, straying near the window simply to torment Lily. James was sitting in an old armchair, looking like that sculpture, "The Thinker." He rested his forehead pensively on his fist and drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair.   
  
Lily had been thinking, too. There was no doubt in her mind that Voldemort would go after anyone she got close to, so what was the use in moving to another dormitory? At least when she was alone, she wasn't endangering anyone but herself. Something, though, told her that it was essential that she survive. That there was nothing more vital to wizardkind than her survival. A very, very faint memory drifted into her mind. It was a memory of that page in "Famous Witches and Wizards," the one about her. That was why she had to live long enough. Her son would conquer Voldemort.  
  
Her thought process was interrupted by James jumping out of his seat and shouting.  "Sirius, you IDIOT!"  
  
Sirius just beamed on. "Figured it out?"  
  
"What on Earth were you thinking? No, don't tell me, I don't want to know!"  
  
Sirius's smile faded. "Hey, he was asking for it, calling Lily a Mudblood!"  
  
"Did you stop to think that he might get KILLED because you just wanted revenge?"  
  
"He could have killed her, squeezing her ribs like that! She could have been suffocated!"  
  
"Well, was she?" James raged. "Did he kill her? I don't think so!" He opened his mouth to say more, but, apparently having no more words for the situation, he ran as fast as he could out the portrait hole.   
  
Sirius looked half angry and half humbled. "He's headed for the Willow," he muttered, heading for the window. "We can see it from here." 

  
They saw Severus walking towards the Whomping Willow and picking up a long stick.  Hesitantly, he took a few steps forward and prodded the knot on the tree. The falling darkness cast long shadows over everything, and he poked a few places before hitting the right knot. When he did, the tree suddenly became eerily calm.  
  
Lily gasped and realized what Sirius had intended to happen. She crossed her fingers and held her breath, whispering, "Hurry, James!"  
  
Sirius pressed his nose to the glass and seemed very anxious. Severus had already lowered himself partway into the tunnel when a lone figure sprinted across the grounds and hit him, running at full speed. Severus was knocked out of the hole and sent rolling over the dewy green grass. The figure (apparently James) shouted something at him and ran back to the school.   
  
Sirius collapsed into an armchair, running his fingers through his hair distractedly. "Oh, jeez...What was I thinking?"   
  
"Not much!" yelled Lily.   
  
Sirius's head snapped up at her. "I thought at least you'd be on my side, Lily. I did it for you, right?"  
  
"Did you honestly think I would have felt better if he had died?"  
  
"Yes-I mean no! I mean...I don't know." He seemed really upset. "Did I really almost kill someone, Lily?"  
  
"Well, YOU didn't...It would have been Remus."   
  
"Oh, jeez..." He covered his own eyes and shook his head. "What if James hadn't figured it out? Remus would have had two on his conscience, and it would have been my fault!"  
  
Lily bit her lip to try to stem the tears that rose behind her eyes. "I guess so."  
  
"I'd have been no better than...than whoever it was, you can't say, right?" He looked positively sick at the thought.   
  
"Sirius, drop it." Lily was starting to get that feeling of revulsion again, knowing that the person Sirius was talking about being "no better than" was sitting right in the room, pretending a look of concern. "Save it for James, when he gets back."  
  
At that exact moment, James re-entered the portrait hole, red-faced, chest heaving.  "I still can't believe I had to do that."  
  
"Look, I'm sorry!" Sirius said.   
  
"Would that be enough if Severus was dead now? If he had gotten through the passageway and now, he was lying there in the Shrieking Shack, mauled? Would it be enough if you said, 'I'm sorry?'"   
  
"Well, he's not, is he? I seem to remember you saying that my attempt at revenge wasn't justified, because Lily's ribs weren't crushed. Now, I'll tell YOU that 'I'm sorry' IS enough, because Severus isn't dead. Happy?"  
  
James sighed, but didn't seem satisfied. "All right. Why is it so hard to stay angry at you?"  
  
Sirius cupped his own face in his hands. "You just can't stay mad at this face! Charisma, looks, intelligence, I've got it all!"  
  
Lily made a derisive noise in her throat. "Now you're just starting to sound like Gilderoy. What next, are you going to start gabbing about Jessica?"  
  
Imitating Gilderoy, Sirius plastered a toothy grin on his face and looked smarmily at Lily. "Well, 'my dear firey-haired charmer,' I have a faaaaaaabulous date! Fourth year, Ravenclaw, and beeautiful!" He walked over to the portrait and banged his own head against the frame in cruel but accurate imitation.   
  
Lily, Peter, and James were laughing to begin with, but their mirth re-doubled when Gilderoy himself called across the room. "Be careful, Sirius! That frame's pretty hard!"


	29. The Accident

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_A/N: **HELP! I NEED LOTS AND LOTS OF HELP GETTING A NEW NAME FOR THIS SERIES! ANY AND ALL SUGGESTIONS ARE ACCEPTED WITH OPEN ARMS! HEEEEEEELP!!  Oh, yes, and, whoever it was who complained about me skipping Christmas in both her first and second years, I apologize. There will be Christmas this year (jeez, it feels rather weird to be controlling whether or not there's Christmas), so don't you worry!  
  
  
**_

**Lily**

_Chapter 29_

  
  
  
The three Marauders and Lily fell onto the couch laughing at Gilderoy, who didn't seem to notice at all. Sirius was clutching his ribs with the laughing, which came as a relief to Lily. It wasn't normal to see him so intense and...well, serious!   
  
Suddenly, Lily stopped laughing. The portrait hole had opened, and in had walked… "Professor McGonagall!" She tapped James on the shoulder frantically. "James, look! Professor McGonagall's here!"   
  
He, too stopped laughing, and Sirius had obviously heard Lily. They suddenly exchanged glances, and Peter said, "We'd better hide!"  
  
"Peter, don't be a prat! We can't hide in the Gryffindor common room, not from someone who's worked here her whole life!" Sirius's tone was somewhere between exasperated and terrified. His eyes shot to the size of saucers when Professor McGonagall spoke.   
  
"Mr. Black? Mr. Potter? Come with me." Lily watched as they followed McGonagall out like prisoners condemned to the death penalty. Just before they left, however, James turned around and threw Lily something. The Invisibility Cloak!  
  
As positively thrilled as she was to be left alone in the common room with Peter (meant sarcastically, of course), Lily's mind was flooded with worry at what Severus must have told McGonagall. She swept the Invisibility Cloak and followed them out. Severus Snape was indeed trailing in McGonagall's wake, with a very smug look on his face.   
  
McGonagall led them down several long corridors and up many disappearing staircases before arriving at a stone gargoyle. "Chocolate Frog!" She yelled irritably. The gargoyle leapt aside and opened a door to Dumbledore's office, through which the grim party walked.  
  
Professor Dumbledore was seated behind his desk, drumming his fingers pensively on the table. The usual glimmer in his sapphire eyes was gone, and he rose as they entered. "Mr. Black. Mr. Snape has related to me a very serious tale. He claims that you told him that, if you prodded a certain knot on the Whomping Willow, it would freeze. Until now, only one student knew this fact, to my knowledge. Mr. Snape's story gives me reason to believe that not one, but six students now know how to immobilize the Willow. This is extremely dangerous, as...well, we all know what lies on the other side, don't we?"  
  
All the color had drained from Sirius and James' faces. They nodded numbly. Severus was smirking while still trying to maintain a traumatized, martyr-esque look. "And when I attempted to prove that fact false, that...that Potter attacked me! _Owch!" His nose had suddenly been pulled to one side by some invisible specter. Lily chuckled at the pandemonium she was causing, but backed off quickly as to not call any more attention to herself.   
  
"What was that last part, Severus?"  
  
"Someone pulled on my nose!" He massaged the said feature painedly.   
  
"I don't see anyone here," Professor Dumbledore didn't look too concerned. "No matter, I suppose." He stood up and looked into Sirius's and James's eyes. "I know that I can trust you two...well, I can trust you, James, anyways. You are both exemplary students, and I know you wouldn't want to disgrace your House by lying, in addition to a transgression.  Please, tell me if Mr. Snape is telling the truth."  
  
James swallowed and looked at Sirius, who nodded miserably. James spoke to Dumbledore in an ashamed voice. "He is, Professor."  
  
"I see. You realize the intensity of this, don't you? Mr. Snape could have been killed.  If Mr. Potter had not 'attacked' him, he would have met up with Remus- oh, no!" Dumbledore clapped a hand over his mouth. It was so rare for Dumbledore to make a mistake in speech, and such a critical one.   
  
Severus's ears seemed to perk up at the sound of Remus's name. "What about Remus? Is he inside the Willow?"  
  
McGonagall looked at Dumbledore with a look of anger extinguished by respect. "What do we do?" she hissed.   
  
"We tell the truth, Minerva." He sighed. "Always the truth. Severus...Remus is a werewolf."   
  
Severus's smug look melted at this, replaced by unbridled shock. "What? No, you're joking, aren't you?"  
  
"Would I joke about something so serious?"  
  
"Yes?" Sirius couldn't resist the opportunity for a joke, but a withering glance from Dumbledore silenced him.   
  
Lily tiptoed over behind Severus and hit him upside the head. "__Yowch__! Who's doing that?"  Lily doubled up in silent laughter as Severus rubbed the back of his head, continuing with the conversation. "So that's why he's sick every month!"  
  
"Mr. Snape, I can't stress enough the gravity of this confidence. You can't tell another soul of this, do you understand?"  
  
"Yes, Headmaster." a nasty smile crossed his features. "I understand."   
  
"Good. Mr. Black, Mr. Potter, I'm sorry to tell you that this will not go unpunished. You, Mr. Black, have detentions for next week, and you, Mr. Potter, are restricted from Quidditch for that same week. The reserve Seeker will be used. And...forty points from Gryffindor."  
  
Oddly enough, no protest met the Headmaster's ears. They both seemed to feel that the sentence was well-laid, so the rest of the visit consisted of all of them being shown out of the office and to their respective common rooms.   
  
  
  
  
Professor McGonagall walked into the Gryffindor common room with Sirius and James (and Lily, though McGonagall didn't know this). To both the boys' confusion, the stern professor didn't go back to her office, but stood and looked around, as though trying to find someone.  
  
Sirius looked at James quizzically. "What's going on, Professor?"  
  
"Have you seen Miss Evans? Did she, perhaps, go up to bed already?"  
  
James, who knew where Lily had been this whole time, felt the rush of air as she ran past him and, most likely, to the dormitory. "I don't know. She's not here, so I guess you're right."  
  
"Well, I suppose I'll wait until tomorrow..." She was about to turn to leave when Lily came down the dormitory stairs and walked over to a table, where laid her Transfiguration book.  "Ah, Miss Evans. May I speak with you for a moment?"  
  
Lily blanched. For all she knew, McGonagall could see through Invisibility Cloaks or something! Hands trembling, she followed.   
  
"Well, I already told you that you'll be moving up a year, but I don't know if I told you when. Did I?"  
  
A relief-numbed Lily shook her head. "No, I don't think you did, Professor."  
  
"Well, your things will be moved to the Fourth Year girls' dormitories after the Christmas holidays. I just wanted to inform you of that. Good night, Miss Evans."  
  
"Good night, Professor."  
  
  
  
  
The rest of autumn flew by like the rapidly falling leaves. Sirius and James served their detentions, Severus Snape smirked a little wider than usual, Remus dreaded full moons more, and Peter stayed the same in everyone's eyes.   
  
James, Lily, and Peter were the only ones staying at Hogwarts over the Christmas holiday.  Remus just wanted to go home, and Sirius would have stayed, if not for a certain...summons from the home front. The last Thursday before the holidays had begun, Sirius received a small red envelope at breakfast...  
  
"What did I do? How did mum find out about the Whomping Willow thing?" He had said, asking questions of the Howler with a puzzled look on his face.   
  
"Best to just open it right away," Peter had advised with the tiniest smile on his face.   
  
Sirius gulped and ripped it open. Instead of the resounding shouts, deepened by anger, that they had expected, they heard shrill, lisping shrieks. Sirius groaned. "Amelia..."  
  
"**THIRIUTH WILLIAM BLACK, IF YOU THTAY AT HOGWARTTH FOR CHRITHMATH, I THWEAR, I'LL RIP YOUR HAIR OUT OF YOUR HEAD! ONE! BY! ONE! YOU HEAR ME, THIRIUTH? IT'TH NOT NITHE AT ALL TO LEAVE YOUR POOR, INNOTHENT LITTLE THITHTER LIKE THAT! AND REMEMBER: I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE!" **__(A/N: Due to the lisping nature of Amelia's speech, I'll provide a translation (aren't I sweet?): "Sirius William Black, if you stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, I swear, I'll rip your hair out of your head! One! By! One! You hear me, Sirius? It's not nice at all to leave your poor, innocent little sister like that! And remember: I know where you live!")   
  
Sirius, mortified, had sunk down in his chair with a hand over his eyes. James absolutely roared with laughter, as had Lily. The mere image of little, roly-poly Amelia ripping Sirius's hair out of his head was enough to leave the most stoic person gasping for breath.  
  
In a nutshell, that's why Sirius wasn't staying over the Christmas holidays.   
  
Then, one day, the students woke up to a soft, feathery blanket of snow covering everything.  It was a Sunday, so everyone pulled on their warmest clothing and rushed onto the grounds for a day of snowball fights and sledding.   
  
Lily ran out with her ice skates thrown over one shoulder. The lake was frozen, and she had always loved to visit the Muggle skating rink before she had come to Hogwarts. It was a real relief to actually be back on the ice, because James didn't live near enough a skating rink. She went to the lake's edge and put on the skates, gliding gracefully out after they were all laced up.   
  
James ducked a large slush ball from Peter. As he did, he saw a lone figure twirling on the ice. "Who's that?"   
  
"Me. I'm the only one who ever throws snowballs at you, remember?" Peter was oblivious to the direction of James's gaze.   
  
"No," he said, getting to his feet and pointing out onto the lake. "Her."   
  
The trail of fire-red hair relayed an instant message to Peter, who shrugged and went about his business in making a veritable arsenal of snowballs. "Just Lily. Why?"   
  
James rolled his eyes at himself and started towards the lake edge. "Hey, Lily! What are you doing?"   
  
Lily sped back to where James was standing, spraying him with a curtain of ice chips as she stopped. "Oh, sorry. I was just skating. Haven't you ever skated?"   
  
He said, "No, not really..."   
  
The next thing James knew, he was flat on his butt on the ice. Lily had used the Duplication Charm to make another pair of skates for him, and then pulled him out onto the ice faster than he could protest. Lily giggled and reached out a hand to help him up.  "You're rather clumsy on ice, aren't you? How would you like it if I just went back into the castle and shut the door when you fell down?"  
  
James, who hadn't as good a memory as Lily, was confused. "Huh?"  
  
She withdrew the hand, exasperated. "Remember last summer when I couldn't get down from that broomstick? You just waltzed on back into the house and shut the door after you."  
  
He struggled to his feet and rubbed his behind injuredly. "Point taken. Now, please help me get my balance!"  
  
"All right." She thought for a moment, then prodded a spot just below his sternum.  "Imagine that there's a laser beam coming right out of there on both sides. Don't lean forward or back, because then, the beam will cut the ice. Basically, keep it horizontal to the lake's surface."   
  
James took a deep breath and tried to stand the right way.   
  
"No, no, no. Laser beam is HERE." She stood to one side of him, and indicated the spot on both his back and front.  Due to the puffy coats both of them were wearing, it so closely resembled a hug that Lily broke away quickly.   
  
"Never happened, right, Lily?"   
  
She pulled on the back collar of his coat angrily, sending him careening to the ground once again, and skated off with her nose in the air. James dug the spiked toe of the blade into the ice and tried to stand up, but to no avail. He got on his hands and knees, trying to crawl back to the shore, but a couple of fifth year girls got so giggly watching this undignified procedure that he stopped.   
  
Lily, finally feeling sorry for him, skated over and helped him up. "All right, Potter.  Just try it again."  
  
He grinned apologetically and found his balance. "Ok...I think I've got the laser beam thing."  
  
"Yes! That's it! Now, just take baby steps."  
  
Making sure that the fifth year girls weren't looking, he shuffled forward slowly.  "Like that?"  
  
"Yes! You're a natural!" she giggled behind a mittened hand. "Watch me." Lily skated off, taking longer strides as an example, and James tried to imitate her. However, he failed and wound up flat on his behind again.   
  
Lily didn't notice that James was struggling to get up, so she just kept skating around the outer edges of the lake. The cold air sent pins flying at every bit of skin it met, making her shiver uncontrollably. She looked to the side in order to avoid the biting wind, and her eyes caught an instantaneous glimpse of something. A round face, eyes gleaming with malice. The next thing she knew, a pair of hands had reached out and shoved her further onto the lake, and a curse was murmured.   
  
The previously solid ice cracked open under her feet and closed over her head. She opened her mouth to scream, but the frigid water filled her mouth. There was no air! She couldn't breathe! Faintly, she heard unrecognizable voices shouting incomprehensible things as the cold and lack of air dulled her senses__...darker...fainter...darker...___


	30. The Rescue

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood

**Lily**

_Chapter 30_

  
  
A/N: Hey, the big 3-0! We should have some kind of party! *glances at Ariana* No? Okay. 

*gasps* A cliffhanger! maybe I should just leave this one blank, to tease you... muahahahahahahaha! *Ariana drags the keyboard away from Clara* I'm ever so sorry about her. This is NOT blank, don't worry. Enjoy!  
  
  
James skidded, on his knees, to the space where Lily had sunk into the ice, not even leaving a mark. "Lily! I'm coming! Lily!" He shouted frantically as he neared the spot.   
  
Peter was running to the same location with a look of feigned worry on his face. "I'll help!"   
  
James didn't even stop to wait for Peter; he just threw himself flat and stared down through the ice. The fluid swirling of her red hair as she sank limply through the water was all he could see. He took off a skate with fumbling fingers and started hacking at the still-thick ice, with no thought to the strange nature of the situation. There was no crack in the ice, even though there was no doubt that Lily had fallen through it. The skates did little against the frozen stubbornness, and James dragged himself to his feet.   
  
Peter was standing right there. James grabbed him by the coat collar and screamed into his face, "Get help! Get Dumbledore, Madame Pomfrey, get someone!"   
  
Peter ran back to the school.   
  
  
  
Lily's dim senses roused momentarily when she hit the sandy bottom of the lake. There was no air left in her lungs, which burned with an icy fire. Her eyes were closed, so she didn't see what it was that pressed a scaly hand to her chest, checking for a heartbeat.  A deep, rolling voice spoke. "She is alive."   
  
The scaly hands pressed again to her chest, and air somehow filled her lungs. Her eyes re-opened, and she found it possible to breathe again. She could hear, and feel...the cold!  It was so absolutely cold! But the cold wasn't what shocked her so much. Two mermen hovered by her, one holding a large silver trident. The other's trident was laid down on the lake bottom. That was the one who had given her the ability to breathe underwater.   
  
The one with a trident said, "Good. Now she can get back above. Come on!"   
  
The other one shook his finned head. "She can't swim that far."   
  
"She got down here, didn't she?"   
  
"That's different!" He grabbed Lily by the arm like a doll and swam up towards the ice, where she could make out the figure of James, looking intently down into the frozen lake.  Lily suddenly realized that, just as James couldn't break through the ice from up above, she couldn't break through from below.   
  
When the merman, still holding her by the arm, reached the surface, Lily pounded on the ice to get James's attention. His eyes widened with relief. She tried to sign "Melting Charm" to him, but he just wasn't getting it. She hadn't brought her wand outside; she didn't think she would have needed it this badly. Finally, a combination of being frustrated and the numbing cold caused Lily to hang, practically limp, in the merman's grasp.   
  
James pounded on the ice in frustration. There was no way to break through! And even if there was some sort of spell, he was terrible at Charms and would never be able to work it! He stood up and just looked down at Lily, feeling incredibly hopeless.   
  
"Move over!" A tall, bossy-looking fourth year girl shoved him out of the way. She threw her shoulder-length brown hair over her shoulder, looking down at the ice. "Whoa, she's really stuck down there, isn't she?"   
  
Rubbing his behind, James glared at her. "You really should take this stuff a little more seriously, Juno."   
  
"Well, if you were taking it seriously enough, you'd have remembered something Eurydice remembered as soon as that girl went through the ice."   
  
Another fourth-year girl, with a quieter air about her and very light blonde hair, made her slow way to where Juno and James were standing. Juno stepped respectfully aside, and Eurydice pointed her wand at the spot, concentrated all her energy, and spoke two words: "Incendio Treuso!" Green flames shot out of her wand, and it melted a hole in the ice just large enough for Lily to be handed up through it.   
  
Before the merman could give her the boost to get her onto solid ground, Lily saw a small black bracelet drifting away. "Wait!" she cried, reaching out a hand and just catching it on her finger.   
  
James dragged her out of the ice. "Are you okay? How did you get back up here? Oh...gosh..." He turned rather pale as the merman poked his head up through the hole and waved a good-bye to Lily. "Never mind." James took off his jacket and gave it to the shivering Lily. He, Eurydice, and Juno led her back to the school as he muttered to himself, "What took Peter so long?"   
  
  
  
  
In the hospital wing, Lily was plopped down on a bed, rolled in several warm blankets, and given a mug of steaming hot cocoa by Madame Pomfrey. James still had no idea what had happened to Peter, so he just assumed that the slightly scatterbrained boy had gotten lost.  For now, he was content to wring Eurydice by the hand and babble intense thanks to her and Juno.   
  
"No prob, James. Um..." Juno slowly pried James's hand off of Eurydice's, since the latter's hand had begun to turn rather purple. "Ok...we've got to go, right?"   
  
"Yes. Of course. All right, I've...I've got to go, too..." James walked distractedly across the infirmary to Lily's bed.   
  
Eurydice raised an eyebrow at Juno, smiling. "You think?"   
  
Juno nodded. "Absolutely. They've got it so bad for each other."   
  
Quite satisfied with themselves, the two girls walked off to their dormitory.   
  
  
  
  
Lily was in the hospital wing until Christmas Eve, when Madame Pomfrey grudgingly let her out. She came back to the common room, only to find James holding a gift. "Happy release from the clutches of doom...a.k.a. the Hospital Wing."   
  
"Very funny," she laughed, taking the gift and sitting down.   
  
"Welcome back, Lily." Peter's voice sent an inexpressible shiver down her spine.  "Can I ask you something?"   
  
The curse spoke for her: "Sure."   
  
"How did you manage to get under that ice without leaving a mark? And you're such a good skater, too."   
  
Her cheeks burned with rage, but it merely looked as though she was blushing at the compliment. "I don't know. Weird, isn't it?"   
  
James nodded. "Yeah. Let's not think about that. Open your present!"   
  
She started to rip the paper off, only to find a large bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. "Thank you!" She hugged first James, then, with a wave of revulsion, Peter. The curse wouldn't let her treat him any differently than James. "Thank you! You know these are my favorites, don't you?"   
  
James actually had no idea, but lied through his teeth. "Uh, yeah! Yeah, I knew they were your favorite." He shot a conspiratory glance at Peter, who winked back.   
  
Lily opened the bag and took out a dark green one. "Hmm...watermelon or broccoli? That's the question. You want it, James?"   
  
He shook his head fearfully. "Nuh-uh! I gave those up a loooong time ago, when Sirius slipped me an anchovy-flavored one. I nearly puked!" Crossing his arms, he glared at Lily. "What's so funny?"   
  
"Nothing-HAHAHAHAHA! Sorry. Involuntary reflex-HEHEHEHEHE! It's just...I can absolutely see Sirius doing something like that."   
  
They sat up in the common room until 10 o'clock that night, when Peter fell asleep, hitting his head on the table. That woke him up, and, rubbing his forehead, he went off to bed.   
  
James started to follow. "I'm pretty tired, too."   
  
Lily got up and walked towards the steps, but stopped near the bottom. "James?"   
  
"Yeah?"   
  
"How did you get over to me so fast? On the ice, I mean?"   
  
He shrugged. "I don't know. I can't really remember anything from when I saw you go through...not really clearly." He smiled a little. "Weird, huh?"   
  
"Yeah..." They stood for a second, then she rushed over and hugged him. "Thanks."   
  
He didn't say anything. It was that same feeling as at the ball earlier that year, when he had seen her walk in. All he did was keep his arms around her, not wanting to let go.  And for a few seconds, Lily remembered when they had "accidentally" kissed, and wished in spite of herself that they hadn't decided to forget about it.    
  
But, as all things come to an end, so ended this embrace. "Good night, James."   
  
"Good night."


	31. Christmas

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood

**Lily**

_Chapter 31_

  
  
Lily shifted uncomfortably in her bed, too restless to sleep. Finally giving up, she threw the blankets to one side and made her way to the common room.   
  
She sprawled her body out on the empty couch, watching the flames dance and crackle in the fireplace. Once the clock reached two o' clock, Lily had managed to fall asleep.  She was curled up, hugging her knees to her chest and her red hair fanning around her face.  
  
  
Clang!  
  
Lily woke up with a start, sudden chills racing down her spine. An uncomfortable sensation of unseen eyes pounded through her mind. It made her hair stand on end and her ears perk up for any soft movements.   
  
  
And then her eyes widened in fright, a faint cough echoed from the boy's dormitories.  Before she knew it, Lily's curiosity took over, making her tip-toe quietly near the staircase.   
  
Strong and rough hands fastened around her wrists, twirling her around so she was looking right at him.  
  
Peter's hands gripped her painfully.   
  
"Where's the dagger?!?" He growled.  
  
"I-don't know!" She tried to wriggle out of his grasp. It was no use though, it only made his nails dig deeper into her skin.   
  
"Don't lie, Lily! I know that you know! Now, _tell me!!"   
  
"Honest-I don't...know." She choked out.  
  
The sides of his lips twitched and his muscles tensed. Before Lily could get a sense of what was going on, she was thrown against the floor with such force that nearly knocked all the air out of her lungs.   
  
He advanced on her, a fist forming from his right hand. His hand contacted with her stomach, leaving her gasping for air. Then he punched her under the chin, making her neck give a sickening crack.   
  
She whimpered and pleaded while tears coursed down her cheeks, silently praying for someone to arrive and catch Peter in his awful act.   
  
The last thing Lily saw before blacking out was Peter's wicked grin. The same grin that had haunted her dreams countless time.   
  
  
_

  
  
Lily felt the pall of unconsciousness being lifted from her mind. She rolled her head to one side and groaned. The pain was so intense, so searing, that she couldn't even see straight.  Every bit of her body ached with a terrible, mind-numbing fire. She wanted to just lay there forever and forget it all, but her mind forced the details into sharp reality: Peter had done this, and there was no way she could tell anyone else. A familiar voice sounded from somewhere near her. "She's coming around!"   
  
She took a shaky breath and opened her eyes. Beside her knelt James, looking down with true concern.  
  
Lily soon found the strength to hoist herself into a sitting position and cried out in pain.  Her bones creaked like nails on a chalkboard and hammers banged fiercely against her skull.  James placed his arms around her, steadying her as she tried to find a position in which she didn't feel the agony.   
  
Just as suddenly as she collected her bearings, the liquid in her veins froze and her heart skipped a few beats. Peter gazed over with sympathic eyes. But Lily knew him all too well, for he was laughing cruelly inside.   
  
James was eyeing her lip, swollen and bleeding slightly. He brushed his thumb under her eyes, wiping the last of her remnant tears away.   
  
"What happened?"   
  
"I don't know."  
  
"That's what you said when you got trapped under the ice. You must know something that happened." Peter prompted.  
  
"I already told you my answer: I don't know." New tears started to sting at the corners of her eyes.   
  
"We'll talk about it later." Knowing he wouldn't get any answer, James dismissed it.  He picked Lily up and held her so closely that he could almost feel her lose consciousness once again. He swayed on the spot for a second, but soon found his balance to walk. He made his way to the Infirmary, cradling her in his arms.  


	32. The Hospital Wing

**© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood**

**_(A/N):__ Hello! Thanks for all of my reviews!! I _****LOVE them! They are really appreciated!! Please no flaming, but criticism IS accepted! :O)  
  
  
  
****Disclaimer: I haven't done one of these in a long time. Well, here it goes; I only own Juno, Eurydice, and the plot. J.K. Rowling owns the Harry Potter characters.   
  
**

**Lily**

_Chapter 32_

  
  
  
  
Lily had slipped back into the exhausted, pained sleep in James's arms while he took the slow trip to the Hospital Wing. Peter followed closely in his wake, though James was oblivious to all else but the fragile, red-haired girl hugged limply against his body.   
  
When they arrived at their destination, Madame Pomfrey nearly had a coronary.  
  
"My goodness! What happened to her? Did she fall down the dungeon steps? Did she get in a fight?" She never gave them time to answer, only took Lily gently from James and put her in a bed, administering healing potions and bandages all over. Peter stayed by the door,   
fighting a smile.   
  
Madame Pomfrey retreated into her office after giving Lily a sleeping potion ("It helps the healing potions to take effect"). James made sure that the stern matron wasn't looking,then walked slowly to Lily's bed. Her face was as white as marble, with bluish bruises standing out against her fiery hair. He drew a shaky breath and bent his head down. With a quiet, soft kiss, he rose and whispered, "Merry Christmas, Lily." At the door, Peter could not resist the triumphant smile from snaking across his face.  
  
  
  
Lily's swollen eyes opened only to see a sleeping boy in the chair beside her bed. She recognized him immediately as James, and smiled painfully. James' eyelids twitched until they revealed his eyes.  
  
"Madame Pomfrey? She's up!"   
  
"Ohhh, How's my little patient doing?" She cooed.  
  
"Horrible." Lily grumbled.  
  
"I wasn't expecting you two days in a row! I might have to assign you a permanent bed if you make this a habit."   
  
  
  
  
  
(Hidden in the shadows of the Forbidden Forest)  
  
"Where is she?!?" The cloaked figure shrieked.  
  
"Oh-Master...I tried. B-but I-"  
  
"Did you at least get the dagger?!?" The shrilling voice echoed through the shadows.  
  
"I-i t-"  
  
"Where is she now?"  
  
"With the boy, My Lord. The boy brought her to the Hospital Wing before I could prevent it."  
  
"No matter, I have all the information that I need. Wormtail, I want you to make sure that they stay close together."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's much easier to kill two birds with one stone."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"What happened?" Lily asked while touching her hand gently to her head.  
  
"Well, Madame Pomfrey gave you a bunch of potions, and bandaged you up pretty good...."  
  
"No, James, How did I get in the Hospital Wing?"  
  
"I found you in the common room and decided to bring you up here. Don't you remember?"   
  
She squinted and looked like she was thinking very hard. "No...I don't."  
  
"Well...that's what happened." James was still confused. "But, Lily? Do you remember what happened that made you pass out in the first place?"   
  
Lily's mind was still foggy. She remembered the scene, but only anonymous punches and kicks remained. There was no memory of who it was, until she remembered that insanely grinning face....  
  
With a cry, she remembered what had happened in vivid detail. He had been asking her a question, a question about the dagger. But, at the dance, he said "I know where he put the dagger." Lily sat bolt upright so quickly that her head swam. "James, did you move the dagger?"  
  
"Um...yes, I did. Why?" He was starting to look a little scared.   
  
"Where is it?"  
  
Now he definitely looked scared. "Never mind, you need rest."   
  
She shook her head. "I'm not going to go after whoever it was, don't worry! I just need to know where it is!"  
  
"Why do you need it?"  
  
"Just tell--" Her voice faded when the Infirmary door opened and in walked Peter. "Never mind," she whispered.


	33. The Trap

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood

**Lily**

_Chapter 33_

The Christmas holiday was about to end. Sirius and Remus came back on the Hogwarts Express on Saturday. Sirius looked very pale, and was wearing a large baseball cap.   
  
"Sirius, take that thing off. You look ridiculous!" Lily, luckily, was well enough to antagonize him. She reached up to swipe it off of his head, but he danced out of her reach and clutched it.  
  
"No way! This baseball cap is the only barrier between me and humiliation!"  
  
James smiled. "What, did you get a bad haircut?"  
  
"In a manner of speaking," Sirius mumbled.   
  
"Vanity, thy name is Sirius." James shook his head. "Come on, knock it off. Nobody's going to care if one side is a little shorter than the other."   
  
"No, this is REALLY bad."  
  
"He's been like this ever since we boarded the Hogwarts Express," Remus said. "I tried every trick in the book, but he just won't take off that hat."   
  
James shrugged. "Suit yourself. And I'll suit myself." With that, he took out his wand and said, "Accio cap!"   
  
The hat flew off of Sirius's head, revealing a sight that made even the compassionate Lily burst into laughter. His hair was completely shaved off on one side, and the other side was, instead of his natural black, an odd purple-and-yellow polka dotted pattern.  
  
"Happy now? Amelia got a 'Do-it-yourself beautician kit.'" He sighed. "Can I please have my hat back now?" James, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, handed it back. Sirius jammed it back on his head and walked up to the boys' dormitories, still grumbling.   
  
  
  
  
That night, Lily lay awake reading in the girls' dormitory. It was her last night there. She put the book aside and looked around at the room. There were two more beds, both hung with scarlet curtains and looking perfectly neat, clean, and peaceful. Neither spoke anything of the horrors forced upon their previous inhabitants, simply by being Lily's friends. Just thinking about it send terrible shivering sensations through her spine and sent her diving for the comfort and security of the blankets.   
  
The shivers receded, leaving only a frightened Lily, pulling herself back to a sitting position. There were too many memories in this room...she couldn't stand to spend another minute, another second inside it! It didn't matter if she stayed in or not, all of her things would be moved to the fourth year girls' dormitory anyways. With firm determination never to return to that dormitory, Lily took up her wand and walked out into the common room.   
  
She sat on the couch and looked into the fire, reminded of what happened on Christmas Eve. In her mind, she went over the terrible scene, now with all the words in place. Between that smothering memory and the intense silence, she jumped a foot into the air when she heard the portrait creak open slowly, then close with a small thud. Someone had exited...wearing the Invisibility Cloak! She knew nobody had entered, because she hadn't heard the Fat Lady's voice say, "Password?"   
  
Lily stood up and followed as quietly as she could. Only Sirius, Remus, James, and...Peter knew about that cloak, so it could be any one of them. She quickly checked out the window. The moon was only a pale sliver, and certainly not full. She followed the creaking footsteps until they turned into a deserted classroom.   
  
It was a perfectly ordinary classroom,she thought as she looked around it. There were desks and chairs, but definitely a sense that it had not been occupied for a long time. Her eyes scanned the room for whatever could be giving it that odd air until she found it. In one corner, there stood a tall, ornate mirror with words etched in it: "Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."   
She racked her brain for some ancient language that contained one or all of those words, but she could think of none. Suddenly, she swept her eyes downward and saw something that caused her to cry out in shock.   
  
There, standing in the mirror with her, were her parents. Not just her parents, but...   
"Chantel! Chrissy!" She turned around to see if they were really there, but no, the room was deserted, except for herself and whoever had led her here. But they were in the mirror! She was sure...Did it show the future? The past? Maybe the key was in the inscription at the top...  
  
This train of thought was cut off as her arm was painfully twisted behind her back and a wand held at her face. "Guess who." sneered Peter's voice. "Ah, Lily, it's such a bad idea to let your enemies know you so well. It was all too easy for me to set this trap, knowing of your curiosity...you never were able to mind your own business, were you? I'm going to ask you one more time, where did you put the dagger?"  
  
Panic flared, but she knew from previous experience that she couldn't physically overpower Peter. "I didn't put it anywhere!"   
  
He spun her around until she was pushed against the wall, staring into his face. "I'm going to give you ONE more chance to make this simple for both of us: Where is the dagger?"  
  
"I don't know!" She couldn't get at her wand like this, not when she was pushed against the wall.   
  
"Hmm...wrong answer." He smiled, almost like he was happy that she had said this. "Good thing, though. Gives me a chance to try out this new curse Voldemort taught me...CRUCIO!"   
  
Lily felt as though her insides were being hollowed out and replaced by red-hot coals. She was screaming, yelling, writhing in pain, and it still wasn't over! She was yelling, she didn't know whether mentally or actually screaming it aloud. "End it! Get it over with now!" It was the worst sensation she had ever experienced. Slowly, but not painlessly, the horrible agony died away.  
  
Peter was just laughing. Despite the hot tears coursing down her cheeks, he laughed. "It's much more convenient...much less strenuous for us than the other way."   
  
"What other way?" she sobbed.  
  
"Did you forget so soon?" his voice was mocking. "Maybe this will refresh your memory." It was only a small sample of what had happened Christmas Eve, but it still hurt terribly. He kicked her twice in the ribs. "I hope that encouraged you..." Then, his voice turned dangerously low. "I'm tired of playing games. Where is the dagger?"  
  
"Why do you care?"  
  
"I said, WHERE IS THE DAGGER???" He aimed his wand at her again, but she had taken hers out during the question.   
  
"Expelliarmus!" Peter's wand flew out of his hand and Lily managed to catch it.   
  
The name Peter shrieked at her was too awful to repeat.   
  
"This is for that horrible curse! Furnunculus!" Angry red boils appeared on his face. "This is for Christmas Eve! Locomotor Mortis!" His legs locked together. "This is for that day on the ice! Petrificus Totalus!" He fell to the ground, completely paralyzed except for his eyes, which burned with a terrible anger. "And this!" Her voice was choked with sobs. "This is for Chantel! And all the pain you've ever caused and ever will! Serpensortia Multimus!" Huge snakes flew from the tip of her wand and slithered towards the immobile Peter.   
  
She ran past him and to the door, stopping when a high voice screamed through the night: "FINITE INCANTATEM!"   
  
Peter, shaking with ragged breaths, got to his feet. "Nice tricks. You're a powerful witch, no mistaking that. But you forgot one tiny thing. One little, vital detail." He crossed the room to her and put a hand on the doorknob, whispering in her ear. "Lord Voldemort is my protector, and he does not fail."   
  
He uttered a quiet spell to erase all marks of a struggle from the room and opened the door. Dim candlelight shone in his eyes as he smiled and cordially extended a hand, prompting her to exit the room.


	34. A New Home

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 34_

  
  


"_Aaaachoooo__!" Lily sneezed, dust filling the air.  
  
Lily stuffed a few more of her remaining muggle fairy-tale, books in her small suitcase.Checking through the drawers, she wanted to make sure she didn't leave any clothes behind. The room was filled of unforgettable memories, good as well as bad. Now feeling suffocated by the air in the room, Lily turned to leave. An uneasy feeling developing in the pit of her stomach, she whirled around, looking at the room for the last time. Lily knew that hot tears were coursing down her face, but made no attempt to wipe them away.  
  
Their curtains, hanging limply over the unoccupied beds...Chantel's music box, Chrissy's brush...Lily fumbled with the door knob, not wanting to see anymore. Wiping her tears away, opening the door, then shutting it forcefully, Lily fled from the room.  
  
  
Professor McGonagall was waiting for her in the common room. "You packed everything?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good.  Now if you'll follow me, Miss Evans, I'll show you to your new dorm."  
  
Lily followed silently, not wanting to disturb the quietness. McGonagall stopped at the fourth year girls' dormitories and pointed to a room. "The room to the left will be where you'll be staying."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"My pleasure, it isn't often when we get a high, intellectual person like you, m'dear." She grinned, rather uncharacteristically, and walked away shouting, "Peeves!!", when an explosion boomed.  
  
  
Hesitantly, Lily walked to the room and opened the door. She peered inside, there were only two girls sitting on the floor, playing exploding snaps. One girl had shoulder-length brown hair and the other with very light blonde hair.  
  
"Hello?" Lily tried to get their attention.  
  
"Now look what you've done, Eurydice, you ruined the game and now we'll have to start over!", One of the girls shrieked, oblivious to the fact that Lily was in the room.  
  
"Sorry, Juno, but I was only trying to make the game more interesting." The blonde girl turned her head and caught sight of Lily.  
  
"Hi! Are you our new roommate?"  
  
"Yeah, my name is Lily." She introduced herself.  
  
"Mine is Juno, and this right here is Eurydice." The brown haired girl pointed to the blonde.  
  
"Are you the girl who fell through the ice?"  
  
"Yeah, but how did you know?"  
  
"Well, Eurydice was the one who knew the Melting Charm to get you out."  
  
"Oh, thank you."  
  
"Your welcome," Eurydice said, eyeing her bags, "Why are you carrying so much stuff?"  
  
"Oh, um...well these are all of my books."  
  
"What kinda books?" Eurydice was getting more interested now.  
  
"Muggle fairy-tales, like: Peter Pan, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, The Brave Little Toaster....." Lily was rambling off many more books from her mind.  
  
"I've never heard of those kinda books. What's Sleeping Beauty about?"  
Eurydice was fascinated by the title.  
  
"It is about a princess....oh, I don't want to ruin it for you. Here, take it and tell me how you like it when your done." Lily scrambled through her bag full of  
books and grinned when her hand had reached 'Sleeping Beauty'.  
  
The book was torn and old, looking like it had been through a twister long ago. The pages were held by loose crummy yarn, while the front cover's colors were worn and faded.  
  
"Why does it look like this?"  
  
"My mother used to read it to me for a bed-time story when I was young."  The thought of not being able to curl up in her mother's lap, or hear her mother sing soft songs in her ear, made it unbearable for Lily to stand.  
  
  
  
  
_

_"Mommy!__ Mommy!" She shouted, bouncing up and down to get her mother's attention.  
"It's time for bed-time stories!!"  
  
"Oh, darling, I don't know if I have the time tonight." Her mother sighed and took off her reading glasses.  
  
"Please? Pretty please? Pretty, pretty, pretty please? With cherries on top?"  Lily begged.  
  
"Oh, alright...but only one story."  She got up from the table and crouched down so she was the same height as her child.  
  
"Where's Petty? Wouldn't she want to hear too?" She asked curiously.  
  
"Oh, Lily, dear, she's already asleep.  Now go grab a book." Her mother instructed.  
  
"How about this?" Lily handed her the book.  
  
"Oh, Sleeping Beauty.  Nice choice." Lily's mother patted her lap, telling her to sit down on it. Lily jumped and scrambled on her mother's lap, being encircled by warm and protective arms.  
  
  
_

"Lily? Lily?" Someone was shaking her, trying to get her to wake.  
  
"Wha ya wan?" Lily groaned.  
  
"Lily? Are you okay?" Lily groaned for the second time and opened her eyes. She saw the familiar face of her mother, looming above her. She reached out, extending her index finger, and poked at it. "Ow!"  
  
"Huh?" Lily's vision slowly came back, Juno was leaning towards her, nursing her eye. Eurydice was in the background, looking very concerned.  
  
"Lily, Are you okay?" Eurydice repeated the question.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just fine."  
  
"Are you sure?" She probed.  
  
"Yes...what happened?"  
  
"We were talking about 'Sleeping Beauty' and you kinda fainted."  
  
"I did?"  
  
"Yeah. Are you sure that you are okay? Because I could take you down to Madame Pomfrey."  
  
"No, I'll be fine. Thanks anyway." Lily said while trying to boost herself back onto her feet.  
  
Juno shook her head wonderingly. "You sure are strange, girl."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Lily defensively.   
  
"Just that you fall through the ice without leaving a mark, and then you just up and faint in the middle of a conversation, you know? You're just really strange."  
  
"You have no clue." she muttered under her breath. If Juno knew half the other weird things that had happened to her, Juno would have had her committed.   
  
Juno's firm grip fastened over her arm and pulled her up. "Well, no damage done, I guess. You're pretty tough, too."   
  
"Thanks for telling me so much about myself."  
  
"Ok, let's get some sleep. You look a little beat."   
  
With a final murmur of thought on the irony of Juno's statement, Lily closed her eyes and burrowed into the unfamiliar blankets.   
  
  


_(A/N: I'd like your opinion on something. Do you:_

**_(A) _****_Romance_**

**_(B) _****_Action_**

**_(C) _****_Romance and Action _**

_Kind of a poll...please answer, I need to know where to go from here!_


	35. Pasts

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 35  
  
_

Lily awoke when the sun was a mere red glow on the horizon. Her pillow was wet with tears, and it took a while for her to remember why.   
  


  
  
_Lily's mother closed the closet door and faced her daughters. "There. No monsters. No bogeymen, no evil wizards, no bad guys."   
  
"No guys with knives?" Petunia piped up.  
  
She sighed in exasperation. "I swear, I'm going to kick your friend's mother for letting you watch that movie. No guys with knives."  
  
"Are you sure?"   
  
"I'm sure." She knelt between her daughters' beds. "Good night."  
  
"Can you please tell us a bedtime story?"   
  
Petunia rolled her eyes. "Speak for yourself. I'm too old for that stuff." She pulled the covers over her head and didn't say anything else.   
  
"Well, I'll tell you a bedtime story, anyways, Lily. Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was afraid of a lot of things. She didn't even want to go to sleep at night, because she was afraid of the dark! This little girl was always afraid of something. Rain...thunder...snow...even sunshine! Then, one day, that changed."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"She met her guardian angel."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"A guardian angel is an angel who protects you. Everyone has one. Remember when you were about to spill that juice on the table the other day, but your hand missed the glass? That was your guardian angel, moving your hand away."  
  
Lily's eyes went wide in the darkness. "Really?"  
  
"I like to think so. So, this little girl who was afraid all the time saw her guardian angel one day, and the angel said, 'You don't have to be so frightened of everything. I'll protect you from the world.' Then, she bent over, kissed the little girl on the cheek, and disappeared. From that day on, whenever the girl got scared, she just remembered that her guardian angel would protect her."   
  
Petunia sat up. "Rubbish. There's no such thing as guardian angels!"  
  
"Yes there is!" Lily shrieked. "Mommy says there is!"  
  
"Is not!"  
  
"Is too!"  
  
"Is not!"  
  
"Is too!"  
  
"Enough! Don't fight, be nice to each other."   
  
"All right," they both grumbled, retreating to the pillows.   
  
Mrs. Evans stood up and gave each of them a good-night kiss on the cheek.   
  
"Mommy?" came Lily's muffled voice. "Are you my guardian angel?"  
  
"I suppose I am."  
  
  
_

  
  
Lily blinked back some tears. Her mother had been so nice...she had never done anything to deserve it! She punched a pillow in anger. It was all her own fault that her parents had been killed! If she hadn't gone to Hogwarts, if she hadn't been born magical, Voldemort would never have gone after them..."to hurt my heart first," she whispered bitterly, quoting Dumbledore. "He's doing a good job."   
  
  
  
  
Being a fourth year, Lily thought, wasn't much different than being a third year. The work was harder, of course, and she had a different dormitory, but there honestly wasn't a lot of change. She still had to put up with Sirius's abysmal Charms (he had just turned her hair green), she still had to suffer through Gilderoy's self-righteous commentaries every afternoon, and she still had to act normal when Peter was in the room.   
  
Professor Lollio was back in action, seeing as there was an end-of-the-year dance looming in the near future. Noticing that her previous matches were a complete disaster, the hyper little professor had re-paired everyone for Herbology partners.   
  
"Aaaaaaall riiight, claaass! I thiiiink that weeeeee'll have...Miiiiister Loooooockhart with Miiiiiss Raaaaaaaaaaamsey,all riiiiiight?"  
  
Eurydice's eyes suddenly dilated with a very frightened look. "Him?"   
  
Gilderoy, at least two feet shorter than she was, linked his arm in hers and leaned his head against her upper arm. "That's all right, don't be shy. I know you love me!"  
  
Eurydice was pale as she shook her arm as though a dangerous bug was crawling up it. "A-actually, I don't."  
  
"I can understand denial. I'm just dazzling."  
  
"Aaaaaaah, young loooooove." Professor Lollio gazed with satisfaction at the match she had made. "And Miiiiss Freeeeeeese..." Juno glared daggers at her. "Youuuu and Miiiiister Luuuuuuupin." Juno glanced over at Remus, gave him a quick, head-to-toe appraisal, and nodded, satisfied. "Neeext, Miiiister Peeeeetigrew and Miiiiiiss...Eeeeeevans."   
  
Peter walked across the greenhouse to Lily and smiled. "How are you, Lily?" as professor Lollio continued mismatching the students, and a general hum of conversation arose, he leaned in and whispered so that only she could hear. "Said my name lately?"   
  
Burning rage doubled over in her chest, confined by the pressure of the curse. But she didn't speak...she couldn't.   
  
"Miiiisss Mclelaaaaand and Miiiiister Blaaaaaack." Sirius, much like Eurydice had, went pale as Molly chattered over to him.  
  
"You have GOT to be kidding me." He sighed and stuck two wax earplugs in his ears. "Here's my emergency kit."  
  
"Fiiiiinally, Miiiiiisteeer Potter and Miiiiss Paaaaalmer." That little girl (Melissa) who still had a crush on James literally hopped over to where James was standing, still in shock. "Aaaall riiiight, goooo aheeeead wiiiith your claaaaaass."   
  
Peter pulled Lily's chair out for her before she sat down. "I'll cut the roots." He brushed her hand none-too-gently aside as it reached for the knife. As he cut the roots, he spoke in a low voice. "Remember the last time Lollio played matchmaker? Pretty wrong, wasn't she?"   
  
"Shame we never got to find out about you and Chantel," the curse said. The words made her stomach churn, and tears sprang from her eyes. At first, it confused her that she could cry, but then, she realized that it was perfectly natural that she cry at the mention of Chantel.   
  
"There, there...it's all right." He took out a small handkercheif, reached across the table, and wiped her eyes. "We all miss her." There was a horrible shine in his eyes...pretended tears!  
  
He had put the knife down to wipe her eyes, so she grabbed it with as much urgency as she was allowed. "I'll chop the roots now..." His name was on the tip of her tongue, but wouldn't make it out. "I'll chop the roots now." She cut very slowly and carefully, so that the class would end before Peter got a chance to get ahold of the knife again.


	36. The Matchmaker

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 36_

Lily walked to the common room after being in the library. She had been studying for a Potions exam...or at least she _would have been, if that stupid little Gilderoy hadn't been hanging around her the whole time, babbling about how charming he was.   
  
She wasn't at all surprised to see the "miniature egomaniac" clinging to Eurydice once again, near the portrait hole. "Come on. You know you love me! Don't be coy!"   
  
"But I don't!" Poor Eurydice looked scared.   
  
"I'll make it easy for you. You're in such deep denial, it's just too hard to ask me to the dance. I'll ask you!"   
  
"But don't you already have a date? Jessica?"   
  
"Who ever said a gentleman like me couldn't take two at one time?" He smiled that toothy smile of his. "Come on, what do you say?"   
  
Little did he know that Juno was right behind him. She grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the wall. "Listen, you little (censored)! She said she doesn't want to go to the dance with you! Do you have a problem with that?"   
  
Gilderoy raised an eyebrow. "I've never seen a girl go to such great lengths just to get a kiss. Pucker up!"   
  
"Yick!" She dropped him and backed off. "You're such an (__censored)!"   
  
"Juno!" Eurydice picked Gilderoy up and straightened his robes. "I'll go with you, I guess." She obviously felt sorry for the little guy.   
  
"When WILL you all figure out that my charm never fails? Ah, well." He bowed elaborately and kissed Eurydice's hand. "I shall see you tomorrow, then, my beautiful dancer!"   
  
While this exchange continued, Lily opened the portrait hole and walked inside.   
  
"1, 2, 3, PELOGEO VIOLA!" _

  
"Eek!" Lily didn't jump out of the way fast enough; a blast of purple hit her. 

  
A voice behind the couch yelled, "Wait, it's Lily!"   
  
"Oh, man! We're in for it now!"   
  
James and Sirius popped up and ran over to her, where she lay on her back, completely winded. "Are you all right?"   
  
"What happened? What was that spell?" Lily blinked, trying to see any results of the curse.   
  
Sirius was grinning like a hyena. "You miiight wanna go check a mirror."   
  
"Sirius! It's not funny!"   
  
Lily had already conjured up a mirror on the end of her wand. "AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Her hair was a bright purple color, and it stuck out from her head in a perfect triangle shape. "WHAT ON EARTH WERE YOU THINKING??? I'M GOING TO TELL PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL!"   
  
"I'm sorry! We thought you were someone else!"   
  
"NEWS FLASH: _I'M ME!"   
  
Sirius shook his head and pointed his wand at her. "Mutus!" Immediately, she couldn't talk. "Just listen for a second, all right? We were planning to give that little Gilderoy thing a wake-up call, and we heard his voice, so when the portrait hole opened, we thought it was him, and..." He gestured towards her hair and stifled a snicker. "Oh, yeah, Verbomus." She could once again talk.   
  
"YOU'RE STILL AN IDIOT!"   
  
"Look, we said we're sorry, and we are, Lily." James took a slightly more practical approach. "Wouldn't it have been nice if we __had hit Gilderoy?"   
  
"I don't care! Just work the countercurse and get it over with so I can go to the dance tomorrow!"   
  
Sirius's grin faded, and he and James exchanged a nervous look. Lily looked from one to the other. "What? You DO have the countercurse, right?"   
  
"Er..."  
  
"Um..."   
  
"Well, that's a funny little story..."   
  
"Yeah, really funny. You'll laugh!"   
  
Lily clenched her teeth. "Don't tell me you don't have it."   
  
"We won't. We'll just...imply it," said Sirius in a very small voice.   
  
"And it happens to be the truth." James suddenly took off and ran up the steps to the boys' dormitory as fast as he could. Sirius turned and started to follow him, but he wasn't so lucky. Lily caught him by the back of his robes and spoke threateningly into his face.   
  
"I swear, Sirius, if you don't find that countercurse by tomorrow night, I'll tell McGonagall that YOU set off those Dungbombs at breakfast today! Not only that, but I'll get that home beautician's kit from Amelia and shave off every bit of your hair!"   
  
Sirius, who was quite proud of his hair, nodded. "I'll find it! I'll find it! Your hair will be back to normal by tomorrow night!"   
  
"GOOD!" Lily let him go and stormed up to her own dormitory, where she pored over spellbooks all night.   
  
  
  
  
The next morning in the common room, Lily sat on the couch with her hat pulled low. She leafed obsessively through book after book of curses, charms, and spells, just trying to find something that would turn her hair back. She didn't even notice when the Marauders came down and took seats next to her.   
  
"Um, Lily?" Remus tapped her on the shoulder, making her jump.   
  
"What? Is my hair showing?"   
  
"No...I've been elected...or, rather, forced..." (he glared at Sirius) "To tell you that  
we haven't found the countercurse yet."   
  
Lily sank low in her seat, clutching the sides of her hat. "Oooooh...how can you find a curse without a countercurse?"   
  
"It was a really old book," explained Sirius. "I guess this spell isn't used much. Part of the pages were ripped out, including the one with the countercurse on it."   
  
Lily shook her head despairingly. "Why me?"   
  
"Because you never learned to swim."   
  
"What?"   
  
James had always been one for chain reactions, and this was a perfect occasion. "If you had learned how to swim, you would have swam back to the castle on the night you were Sorted. Then, you wouldn't have met up with Remus in the Shrieking Shack, and he wouldn't have introduced you to us, and your hair wouldn't be purple and triangular right now." Nobody reacted, they just stared at him. "Just something I figured out," he mumbled embarassedly.   
  
"Well, why-ever it is, your hair IS purple and triangular now. Take my advice and just keep that hat on all day. Nobody will bother you, some people keep their hats on all the time." Remus got up and walked towards the portrait hole. "I'm going to breakfast now. There's a dance tonight, and dinner's not going to be til late."   
  
All through classes that day, Lily shot Sirius glances across the room, asking with her eyes whether he had found the countercurse yet. Every time, he shook his head nervously and ran a hand through his hair.   
  
Lily sat in the common room, an owl perched on the arm of the chair, writing a letter furiously. It was fifteen minutes until the dance, and Sirius STILL hadn't found the stupid countercurse! "So, please send me that home beautician's kit that you got for Christmas so that I can shave your brother's head. With love, Lily." She muttered as she wrote. "There." Just as she was about to tie the letter to her owl's leg, Sirius bounded down the dormitory steps.   
  
"I found it! I found it! I found the countercurse!" He held a ragged old piece of parchment in his hand. He slammed it down on the table and smoothed it out. "It's right here!"  
  
Lily leapt up and screeched, "Well, go ahead! Put my hair right!"   
  
"Ok, ok!" He cleared his throat as she took off her hat, and took out his wand.   
"Normalus!"   
  
She grabbed a handful of her now-relaxed hair and looked at it. "Red! My hair's red again! Just in time, too! Oh, no, I've got to get dressed!" She ran up to the girls' dormitory, completely forgetting about the owl.   
  
  
  
Lily held up a set of pinstriped purple dress robes and asked Juno breathlessly, "How about this?"   
  
Before she knew it, the dress was knocked from her hand and fell to the floor with a small thud. "You are NOT wearing that!"  
  
"Okay..." She tiptoed back to the closet, still moving very quickly, and held up a nauseous yellow color. "This?"   
  
Juno shrieked and grabbed it from her. "God, Lily! Do you have ANY fashion sense?"  
  
"Well-"  
  
"Don't answer that! I already know...remember at the last dance?" She shuddered. "You looked absolutely HORRENDOUS!!" Juno crossed haughtily to Lily's closet, brushed her aside, and took a good look inside. "Ack!" She staggered back, clutching her eyes. "Please tell me this is some kind of joke!"   
  
"Well-"   
  
"No, I already know. You seem really out of touch. Time to bring out the reserves." She flung open her own closet and took out a set of sparkling dress robes. They seemed to shift colors with the light. Were they pastel orange, pink, or yellow? "I don't know...this might not be the best for you. You're not really a changing person, more constant."   
  
"Well, I'm-"  
  
"I know! This one is perfect!"   
  
"Oh..." Lily smiled, taking some of the dress robes in her hands. "This is beautiful!" It was blue, but only barely. The color was so pale that it was almost as if someone had painted a thick white glaze over a light blue dress. "It's perfect!"   
  
"You don't have to tell me, I already know. What do you think, 'Dice?"   
  
Eurydice rolled her eyes impatiently. "I really don't like when you call me that. But as for the dress, it's really nice. It'll look great on you, Lily."  
  
"Great." Juno heaved the dress unceremoniously into Lily's arms and walked out. "We'll be at the dance, all right?"   
  
"Sure. I'll just...put this on..." The door closed behind them, and Lily looked down at her hands reflectively. Why was she allowing herself to get so close to them? They were nice, that was certain, but that was the reason she didn't want to be friends with them. Every moment she spent with Juno and Eurydice, they came that much closer to the same fate as...Lily didn't want to think about it. Well, not much had happened lately. Maybe Voldemort was backing off a little, for some reason only he could understand. With this happy thought in the back of her mind, she put on the dress robes and started down to the dance.  
  
  
  
When she arrived, Remus and Vanessa were claiming the dance floor. Vanessa's flaming red dress floated elegantly as she twirled and dipped in Remus' arms. Lily let her gaze wander to the girl in the corner with balled up fists and clenched teeth. Fierce expressions crossed over her face as her body stiffened, whenever she saw a grin play across Remus' face. It was then that Lily realized, the girl was Juno.   
  
Lily Stood at the entrance for a while, until she felt tense vibes glide through the room. James, Sirius, and Peter were making their way towards her. They were all dressed in their finest robes, and drenched with strong cologne, that made her nose crinkle.   
  
Sirius whistled. "Is this m'dear Lily?" He said in a mocking tone.  
  
"What do you think?" She teased.   
  
James chimed in. "I think you look positively wonderful."   
  
"Well, thanks!" She blushed a little and brightened up considerably.   
  
"Yeah, you do look nice."   
  
"Thank you!"   
  
Sirius made an overly elegant bow and spoke in a deepened, Casanova-ish voice. "May I have the pleeasure of this dahnce?"   
  
Lily shrugged, still blushing. "Why not?" She took the outstretched hand and failed to notice the dirty look that James gave Sirius as they passed him.   
  
It turned out that Sirius wasn't a very good dancer at all. "OW! That's twenty-six!"   
  
"Sorry," he mumbled, staring down at his feet in concentration.   
  
"You keep stepping on my toes!"   
  
His downcast eyes gave him the chance for a secret smile. Little did Lily know that Sirius was stepping on her toes on purpose. "Well, now you've learned a lesson. Always ask someone if they're a good dancer before saying you'll dance with them."   
  
She sighed in exasperation and stepped away. "I think I've about had it with you."   
  
"Come on, just finish the dance!"   
  
"All right, all right." She went back and reluctantly kept dancing.   
  
Sirius spiraled slowly towards where James had been forced into a dance with Melissa. He stepped on Lily's toes one last time, and as quickly as he could, took Melissa's arm with one hand and pushed Lily into James's now empty arms with the other. "The matchmaker always wins," he whispered triumphantly as he deposited little Melissa at the Gryffindor table, where she crossed her arms and pouted.   
  
Lily, having been thrown off-balance by Sirius's push, grabbed onto James's shoulders. Instead of breaking away with awkward apologies, she stayed just as they were, and he didn't show any sign of wanting to break off, either. James took one of her hands in his and put his other hand at her hip. "The next dance is starting," he whispered.   
  
"Yeah..." Lily moved in, closer to James, and felt his heart beating against hers. She closed her eyes. Part of her screamed that they were just friends, that there was nothing between them but friendship. But the other side, the one that spoke so much more softly, asked her...what harm could one dance do?   
  
__One dance...  
  
Two dances...  
  
Three dances...  
  
They were oblivious to the people staring, their classmates' whisperings and accusatory pointing. They had created their own world, and both were reluctant to leave that world too quickly. However, halfway through the last dance, Lily heard a shriek coming from across the Great Hall. She turned her head quickly towards it, and what she saw made her go utterly pale.   
  
Their wands forgotten, Juno and Vanessa were rolling about on the floor, tearing and scratching at each other wildly. Remus was standing off to the side, not wanting to get involved, but looking like he thought he should. Eurydice had taken the opportunity to tear Gilderoy away from her and had run over to Juno's aid.   
  
"Juno! Stop it! Get away from her!" Lily cried.   
  
"She started it!" Came the muffled shriek of a reply.   
  
"Liar!" A nearby Ravenclaw who Lily recognized as Jessica, Gilderoy's date for the last dance, shouted. "Juno started it, she was dancing with Vanessa's date!"   
  
"Well, what's the problem with that?" It was the first time Lily had ever seen Eurydice yell at anyone. "It's perfectly all right for a girl to ask a boy to dance!"   
  
"That's not the point!"   
  
"Yes it is!"   
  
"No it's not!"   
  
"Yes it is!"  
  
"Are you trying to start a fight?"   
  
"What if I am?"   
  
Lily was rather frightened that Eurydice was acting so unlike herself. Lily ran up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. "I don't think we want to get too involved in-"  
  
Eurydice shrugged her off like a bug. "Stay out of it, Lily!"   
  
"All of you stay out of it!" Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore had arrived, and each seized one of the quarreling girls and pulled her to her feet. "Now, may I be so bold as to inquire what happened here?"   
  
The idiotic nature of the fight suddenly seemed to hit both the girls, and they fell silent. Lily backed up very slowly. She didn't want to get so involved anymore.   
  
"Miss Evans, what has been happening?" McGonagall had obviously deemed her the most reliable source.   
  
She looked quickly over at Remus, who was pale. "Well...I guess it all started-"  
  
"The short version, if you please!" she snapped.   
  
"All right." She looked down at her feet and hid a small smile. "They were fighting over Remus."   
  
All eyes turned to Remus. His pale face suddenly flushed as red as Vanessa's robes, and he looked like he wanted to shrink into the crowd.   
  
**TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
  
  
**_

_A/N: I AM DESPERATE FOR IDEAS! Not just little tiny pebble ideas, I need boulders!   
E-mail me at: arianaveelagrace@hotmail.com if u have any. But, please understand   
that I won't accept any non-canon ones, okeydokey?_


	37. Summer

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**Lily**

_Chapter 37_

  
  
The Hogwarts Express sped towards King's Cross Station in London like a mechanical red serpent. Lily, Eurydice, Juno, and the Marauders shared a compartment (though Remus and Juno avoided each other's eyes).   
  
"I still wish Gilderoy had been coming through the portrait hole when we said that spell," grumbled a very bad-tempered James.   
  
Sirius punched him playfully on the shoulder. "We'll get him next time. Besides, you're just ticked off about Slytherin winning the House Cup again."   
  
"That Severus Snape...I swear, he cheated in that Quidditch match!" James said, his fists clenching.   
  
Lily smiled disarmingly at him. "Next year, right? He probably DID cheat, so it's no discredit to Gryffindors."   
  
This logic made too much sense for James to stay angry. "Yeah, I guess you're right."   
  
With a soft screeching sound, the train halted. Sirius rose and took out his wand.  "Here's the last bit of magic I'll be able to do until September..." He whirled around to where Gilderoy Lockhart was standing, talking to Jessica. "Pelogeo Viola!" The egotistical little second year's hair stuck out in a purple triangle around his head, but Gilderoy didn't notice at all, only kept talking. Jessica, however, snorted with laughter and had to excuse herself from the conversation.   
  
When they emerged onto the platform, Sirius's family found them instantly. Lily noticed that Amelia wasn't smiling at all. "What's wrong, Amelia?"   
  
"Nothing," she mumbled.   
  
"You're usually so smiley. There must be something wrong."   
  
"Nope. Nothing."   
  
"Well, smile, then!"   
  
The pudgy little girl let the mischevious gleam back into her eyes so that they looked exactly like Sirius's. "Okay!" She smiled a wide grin, revealing...  
  
"Teeth!" Lily exclaimed. "Your front teeth grew in!"   
  
"Yeah! And I sssstart Hogwartsssss in Ssseptember! Isssn't that great?"   
  
"Yes, but why are you hissing like that?"   
  
"I love sssssssaying the "ssss" sssssound! I sssssound like a sssssnake, don't I?"   
  
"That's not always the best thing in the world...but I can't wait for you to get Sorted next year!"   
  
Amelia glowed. "Me neither. Ssssee you then!" She waved as Mrs. Black led them off the platform.   
  
Next, Remus's parents called over to him. "Bye, Wormtail, bye, Prongs!"   
  
Peter wandered off in search of his parents. "See you, Prongs." His eyes flashed a little.  "Bye, Lily."   
  
Now, only Lily and James were left. "Where do you think your dad is?"   
  
"I don't know. He must have been held up at the Ministry or something."   
  
"Hey, you two!" Mr. Potter's voice appeared out of nowhere. "Sorry I'm late, but I had to pick up something..." With an odd tone in his voice, he trailed off.  
  
"What did you pick up?" James asked curiously.  
  
Mr. Potter giggled like a schoolgirl. "It's a surprise."  
  
"Oh, come on!! Tell me!!" James started to beg.   
  
"You'll see when we get outside."   
  
The 'surprise' made both Lily's and James's jaws drop simultaneously. It was a Volkswagen beetle decked out in what could only be described as "hippie chic." It was completely overrun with rainbow swirls, peace signs, daisies, smiley faces, psychadelic words, the works. James just stood gawking for a few minutes, then he found his voice. "Dad...where'd you get that?"   
  
"Oh, I met the nicest Muggle this past May...too bad we had to erase his memory...but this Muggle - Dursley, I think his name was - he told me that this kind of car is all the rage nowadays. We struck up a conversation about his family, and it turns out his son Vernon is dating a certain young lady. I inquired as to the young lady's name, and who is it but your sister, Lily!" Lily began in a coughing fit, and couldn't stop, even when James attempted slapping her on the back a few times.  
  
"Let me get this straight, My sister has a...boyfriend?!?" She shrieked, finally able to talk.   
  
"Yep. The little fellow even bought flowers and chocolates for the little lady!" Mr. Potter smiled, while searching through his pockets for the keys. "Now where did I put them?" He muttered to himself. "Ahh, there they are!!" Mr. Potter fumble with them, until he got the door open.   
  
Lily sat in the back explaining how seatbelts work to James as Mr. Potter started the ignition. Once Lily and James were fastened in, and Mr. Potter stepped on the pedal, a huge jolt wracked the car, flinging Lily forward. It was then that Lily started to have second thoughts about the idea of riding in a car with Mr. Potter driving.   
  
"Mr. Potter?"   
  
The car was once again thrown forward, and Mr. Potter again giggled with glee. "Yeees?"   
  
"Have you ever actually...driven a car before?" Lily asked nervously.   
  
"Well, I made it up here, didn't I? Don't worry, I'll get this thing started, you see if I don't!"   
  
James let his head fall into his hands in despair. "Dad, why can't we use the broomsticks?"   
  
The car roared to life, and Mr. Potter gave a little sitting-down dance of happiness.  "Isn't it lovely? It was the best car on the lot, and I got it for half off...of course, it probably helped that he had just had his memory modified..."   
  
Lily didn't have time to react to this outrageous statement. Her breath was pretty much stolen from her lungs as Mr. Potter zoomed through the streets of London. At every turn, other cars slammed on the brakes and screamed unsavory words at Mr. Potter, but all they got in return was an overeager peace sign flashed out the driver's window.   
  
"I really, really think we should have taken the brooms!" James shouted over the engine's roar.   
  
"Come on, Jimmy, live a little!"   
  
"Dad, don't call me that, pleeease!" James turned red at being called his dad's old pet name for him.   
  
"Well, you should!"   
  
Mr. Potter came to a street intersection, oblivious to the fact that another car was speeding down the street perpendicular to them. Both of them kept driving straight on.   
  
"Dad, watch out for that car!"  
  
"STOOOOOOP!" Lily screamed.   
  
The little car sputtered to a halt.   
  
The other car swooshed right by, just missing the bumper of the car.   
  
"Oh, no!" Mr. Potter crossed his arms over his chest. "We're out of gas!"   
  
"Is that really what you're worried about, dad?" James asked wearily. "We almost got smashed into a little tin can, and you're worried about being out of gas? What does that even MEAN?"   
  
Lily fiddled nervously with the black charm bracelet she was wearing. "Basically, it means that there's no more fuel for the car to run on. It won't move anymore."   
  


"BROOMS!" James yelled. "WE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE BROOMS!"   
  
"We didn't need to! I brought Floo powder!" Mr. Potter opened a glove compartment and revealed a large quantity of the sparkling white powder.   
  
"What's that?" Lily had never seen anything like it before.   
  
"Floo powder, of course. Oh, I forgot, you're Muggle-born, aren't you? Never used Floo powder...all right, let's push the car over to the side of the road."   
  
After much trouble and complaints from James, the car was at an odd angle to the curb, and the little party was searching for a wizard-owned shop with a fireplace. Eventually, they found a tiny little store with a sign hanging over the door that read, "Magic Shop."   
  
"Hello," Mr. Potter greeted the store's owner, a short, sour-looking man with a beard of the same quality. "Our car broke down. May we use your fireplace?"   
  
Lily looked around quickly. The shelves were lined with trick cards, plastic wands with flowers concealed in them, black capes, and showy top hats. "Mr. Potter? I don't think-"   
  
The owner eyeballed Mr. Potter very suspiciously. "What d'you mean 'use my fireplace?'"   
  
"Well, I need to get home, don't I?"   
  
"And how d'you presume to get home using my fireplace, sir?"   
  
"Floo powder, of course!" Mr. Potter said, quite simply.   
  
"Get outta my store! You're outta your tree, if you don't mind me saying so!"   
  
Lily grabbed Mr. Potter and James by the arms and led them out of the store. "That was a Muggle magic shop. They sell little cheap tricks, like two-headed coins, or wands with buttons that make stuff shoot out of the tips."   
  
"Well! I must say, they have quite a lot of nerve calling THAT magic! I'll have a word with the Minister about this!" Mr. Potter was quite indignant.   
  
"How about we just go to Diagon Alley? Or the Leaky Cauldron?" James offered, glad to be back to wizard transportation.   
  
"Good idea. Let's go." Mr. Potter grumbled the whole way there about imposters and false advertising, but seemed quite relieved when they got to the Leaky Cauldron. "Hello, Bill.  May we use the fireplace?"   
  
The bartender nodded and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Sure. It's 'round there."   
  
James grabbed a handful of the Floo powder. "I'll go first." He threw the powder into the fire, which turned bright green. Then he stepped right into the flames and shouted, "Bundt Lane!" Lily noticed that some of the powder had fallen outside the fireplace as James disappeared. She picked it up and put it in her pocket, just in case she got lost or something.   
  
"Your turn, Lily." Mr. Potter held out the small bag of Floo powder. She mimicked James's routine, throwing the powder into the fire and shouting "Bundt Lane," but something must have gone very wrong.   
  
When she came out of the other fireplace, it wasn't that of the Potters' house, but a fireplace with a cold, chiseled design around it and serpent gargoyles staring from every corner. Despite the fire, the room seemed to have a considerable chill permeating through it, and as Lily stepped onto the floor, she shivered. Something wasn't right here...  
  
And then she heard the screams. First, a higher voice, yelling "Crucio!" Then, another voice, one she knew but couldn't place, screaming in pain. The high voice spoke over it.  "Where is the dagger?!?"   
  
Lily had heard this exchange before...only, she had been on the other end of it. She rushed forward, driven by her innate inability to stay out of bad situations. There, on the floor and writhing in pain, was...  
  
"James!" She ran forward without looking to see who was performing the terrible curse.  "James, I'm coming!"   
  
A thin but strong hand seized her by the shoulder and shoved her away. "You're next, you stupid girl, if he doesn't tell me where the Dagger of Slytherin is!"   
  
"The Dagger of Slytherin?"   
  
That same hand lashed out at her, striking her across the face. "You should know what it is! Or don't you remember? You never...talk about it!" The wand pointed right at her and James's tormentor uttered a spell. "Recordus!"   
  
Suddenly, images raced with vivid feeling across her mind. Peter...Stabbing Chantel's already-lifeless body in the common room...and now, the detail on the dagger's handle was clear. Stone snakes with unblinking reptilian eyes laughing at her, their lifeless fangs shooting poison with every breath.   
  
Lily clenched her fists and felt burning hate rise in her chest. "If it wasn't for you, Chantel and Chrissy would still be alive! My parents, Chantel's uncle, so many people are dead because of you! Doesn't that make you feel horrible?"   
  
Voldemort whipped off his hood, revealing burning red eyes. "Feel? I don't feel anymore.   Feeling makes you weak. If you hadn't been so feeling, Chrissy and Chantel would be right as rain right now. If you had joined me..." He laughed with wicked delight. "But it's far too late for that! Far, far too late! I am the most powerful wizard in the world, and I cannot be defeated! You should have joined me when I gave you the chance!"   
  
Little to Voldemort's knowledge, the effects of the Cruciatus curse had stopped during the time he spoke. With beads of sweat running down his face, James was standing up, his wand held limply. "Are you done yet? Get the picture! Lily won't join you, not in a million years!"   
  
Voldemort raised an eyebrow. "Really?" He crossed to James and held his wand at the boy's throat. "You won't join me, Lily? Not even if I kill this one, too? It doesn't matter to me...one more life..."   
  
Lily's breath caught in her chest. "You wouldn't! You can't!"   
  
"Oh, I can. It all depends on whether you WANT me to."   
  
"But you won't!" Lily suddenly realized something. "You could have had him killed anytime during these past years...anytime!" What she wanted to say was that Peter had been alone with James enough, but the curse wouldn't allow her to explain it.   
  
"You can be smart for one so stupid." With a look of disgust on his face, he released the struggling James. "Tell me now, where is the Dagger of Slytherin?" He raised his wand to perform another curse, this time on Lily.   
  
"Wait! I'll tell you!" James grabbed Voldemort's wrist, a brave but incredibly stupid gesture.   
  
"Touch me again, Potter, and you'll be dead before you say 'help.'" He glared at James.  "But tell me where the dagger is."   
  
"James, don't!"   
  
"Lily, it's all right! The dagger is...is..."   
  
"WHERE?" In that instant it took for Voldemort to screech "where," James had transformed into a stag and was rushing at the Dark Lord, antlers down. If Voldemort had been expecting it, there was no way the attack would have worked, but James had the element of surprise on his side.   
  
Lily got to her feet and watched Prongs charge Voldemort down. With a cry, the evil wizard was sent flying across the room, and Prongs turned and ran, transforming as he went. "Come on, let's go!" He yelled, grabbing Lily by the wrist. They raced in the opposite direction, but Lily stopped at the fireplace.   
  
"Wait! I have some powder..." She scooped it out of her pocket, threw it into the fire, and pulled James in with her. "BUNDT LANE!" She screamed, and before they knew it, they were transported to James's house.   
  
Chests heaving, they staggered out of the fireplace and collapsed to the floor.   Mr. Potter's panicked voice came from deep within the house. "Lily? James?" Before blacking out from sheer exhaustion, Lily heard rapid footfalls descending the stairs and felt James take her hand gently.   
  
  
  
  
Lily awoke on the Potters's couch with an ice pack on her head. She looked around the room slowly, and saw that James was asleep on the other couch. For a moment, she was confused as to what had happened. Then, she remembered. The Floo powder...the fireplace with snakes on it...the memory...and Prongs, holding Voldemort off long enough that they could escape.  She closed her eyes again and just lay there, immensely relieved that it was over. When she re-opened them, James had also come to, and the confused look on his face metamorphosized into anger. The first words out of his mouth were,  
  
"THAT STUPID CAR!!!" James threw the ice pack across the room. "You know, Lily, sometimes I honestly wish that you knew how to swim."   
  
"Okay, that means that you wish you didn't know me." she said after throwing her ice pack at him.   
  
"Then I would like to thank whatever kept you from learning how to swim."  
  
"That's better." She smiled, then regained her sober concept of what had just happened.  "Do you realize that you just saved both of our lives?"   
  
He shrugged bashfully. "If you hadn't picked up that Floo powder, it never would've worked. Besides, how long do you think I was going to be able to hold off...well, you know who."   
  
"Yeah, I know."   
  
"I don't want to say his name anymore, you know what I mean?"   
  
"Sends shivers down your spine?"   
  
"Mm-hmm. I heard that a lot of people have just taken to calling him 'you-know-who.'"   
  
"Well, I might join them!"   
  
Mr. Potter walked in. "Oh, you're awake! What happened?"   
  
Lily took a deep breath, then told him everything. Every detail she could remember, up until the time that James transformed into the stag. "...and I thought James was going to tell him what he wanted to know, but he took a kind of flying leap at him, then we just ran back to the fireplace and I used the leftover Floo powder to get back here."   
  
"James did that? Whoa, seems you don't know your own strength!" Mr. Potter looked incredulously at his son, who exchanged a secretive glance with Lily. "Well, I can understand why you two fainted as soon as you got back here! I had no idea..." His voice trailed off.   
  
Changing the subject awkwardly, Lily cut in. "What happened to the car?"   
  
James plugged his ears obstinately. "I'm not listening! Lalalalalala!"   
  
As James "lala'd," Mr. Potter explained that he had left it by the side of the street where it broke down. "I didn't think it was really worth retreiving. You know, so many people got angry at me when I was in it, I think it was bad luck." He walked over and un-plugged James's ears. "I'm done. What DO you have against the car?"   
  
"Let me count the reasons I don't like it! One, it has bubble writing on it. Two, it has...cheerful flowers on it! Three, some guy whose son is dating Lily's sister - no offense, Lily, I just know she's a jerk - sold it to you. Four, he sold it to you AFTER HAVING HIS MEMORY MODIFIED, so he was probably only half-concious! Five - "  
  
"I think we get the point," Lily stopped him in mid-reason.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
The next day, Lily and James received a frantic owl from Sirius.   
  
_"Dear Lily and James,   
  
_

_S.O.S! I need help! Amelia just got a new nail polish kit, and as I write this, she's  
looking for me (I'm in a closet). If she had her way...here she comes! I'd better hide   
the owl and send it later!   
  
_

_Desperately,  
Sirius."   
  
James looked up from the letter with a sardonic grin on his face. "What kind of help do you think he's looking for?"   
  
"Well, we could send him an invitation to come here for a week..."  
  
"Or a month..."   
  
_

"Or the whole summer, depending on Amelia's determination level."   
  
James sat down and dipped a quill in ink. "Hey, since we're inviting Sirius, how about Remus and Peter?"   
  
Inexpressible chills wracked Lily's body. "Why not?" Being in the same house with Peter for any longer than necessary was not top of her list of "things I want to do."   
  
"Great!" James started to write the letters. When he was finished, he gave them all to his owl, who accepted the load grudgingly.   
  
  
  
  
That Saturday, the three boys arrived. Sirius looked thoroughly relieved; the first thing he did when he got into the house was ask Mr. Potter to perform a Cleaning Charm on his fingernails, which were fluorescent orange with messy blue stripes. Remus was also glad to be there, but Peter was a little jumpy and seemed upset. Inwardly, Lily figured out what had probably happened. Voldemort had probably tortured Peter in order to get the dagger...or perhaps for not telling Voldemort that James was an Animagus. Serves him right, she thought with grim satisfaction.   
  
"Well! What should we do first?" Sirius asked, rubbing his hands together with glee.   
  
"There's always the extra brooms in the shed."   
  
Lily groaned. "You know I can't fly for beans!"   
  
"We're not paying you in beans!" Sirius shouted jovially. "As a matter of fact, we're not paying you at all! Onward!" He marched to James's backyard, with James, Remus, Peter, and Lily following.   
  
James opened the shed and emerged with five brooms. He tried to hand one to Lily, but she pushed his hand aside. "I'm staying on the ground this time, thank you."   
  
"Come on, live a little!"   
  
Lily glared at him. "Last time I heard someone say that, the car ran out of gas and we wound up using Floo powder."   
  
He shrugged and threw the broom back into the shed. "All right. See you later!"  They all took off and flew into the air.   
  
Remus flew alongside James. "What was so bad about using Floo powder?"   
  
"Um...nothing. Some people just don't like Floo powder." James was lying through his teeth, but luckily, Remus didn't know that.   
  
His next assailant was Sirius. "SO, James! How goes the romancing?"   
  


"Would you just shut up about that?"   
  
"Well, you two are just so perfect for each other!" Sirius had put on his 'auntie' voice.  
  
"I said shut up about it!"   
  
He dropped the act. "I mean it. You like her, don't you?"   
  
James didn't say anything.   
  
"Don't you?"   
  
"Wait a second. Why am I just sitting here, taking this? I can outfly you!"   
  
Sirius grinned and grabbed the back of James's broom. "All right. A race from here to the upstairs window of your house. If I win, you spill the beans. If you win, I leave it alone and 'shut up about it.' Deal?"  
  
"Deal. Let go of my broom, and we can start the race." Sirius let go, and they were both off at top speed, neck and neck. "Give it up!" James called back to Sirius.   
  
"No way! And spoil my perfect record of annoyance? Never!" He forced the broom forward, caught up with James. They were nearing the window. Both of them reached out to touch the window and....  
  
Got to the window at the exact same time.   
  
Sirius sat silent for a few seconds, then clapped James on the back. "Tell you what, old chap! I'll meet you in the middle. Tell me whether or not you like Lily...even a _teeensy__-tiny little bit, and I'll go quietly. Not another word, not another sideways glance, not another wink about it until you're married!"   
  
"You're really unstoppable, aren't you?"   
  
"Haven't you figured that out by now? All right. Do you like Lily?"   
  
"You know, this is stupid. I don't have to answer you!"   
  
"Just think...I'll never mention it again, not until you're married - and did I ever say until you're married TO LILY? I don't think so. So, answer me. one little teeny word, yes or no."   
  
James rolled his eyes and turned the broom around. "All right. Yes." And he flew away at top speed.   
  
  
  
_

_A/N: I still need some ideas!!!! If you have any, please e-mail me at: arianaveelagrace@hotmail.com _


	38. Preparation

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_A/N: This is a test. This is only a test: __font blue__ This is a test. This is only a test. Ok, thanks! :O)  
  
__Thanks to Ana for the idea of...well, I'm not saying what the idea is. You'll have to read it and find out for yourself, now won't you? :O)  
  
Disclaimer: Wow, I'm long overdue for one of these, aren't I? All right, everything that belongs to J.K. is hers. Everything that belongs to me is mine. Did I cover everything? Ok, ok. For those of you who are sticklers about disclaimers, I own the plot, Juno, Eurydice, Amelia, and anything else you see in here that you haven't seen in the Harry Potter series. K?   
  
  
_

**Lily **

_Chapter 38_

__

__

 James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were seated at the Gryffindor table, watching the Sorting.   
  
_"Abbot, Sarah!"   
"Achy, Robert!"   
"__Berry__, Orpheus!"   
"Black, Amelia!"__   
  
The pudgy little girl jogged eagerly up to the stool and sat down....right on the hat.  Under the general laughter in Great Hall, she muttered an apology to it and jammed it on her head. It took about five minutes before shouting, "GRYFFINDOR!"   
  
Amidst the hefty applause, she made her way to a seat between Sirius and Peter. "I'm in Gryffindor! I'm in Gryffindor! It tried to put me in Hufflepuff, but I gave it a piece of my mind! 'Listen, you...hat!' I said. 'My brother's in Gryffindor, and he's going to be really, really sad if I'm not! So, you better put me in Gryffindor or I'll sit on you again!'"   
  
All present held their stomachs in laughter through the sorting of "Bone, Lotus."  "Sounds like you told HIM!" Lily giggled. "Poor hat's not going to be able to sleep at night, knowing that you're prowling the halls!"   
  
Amelia threw an arm around her brother's shoulders. "Neither will the teachers...hehehe."   
  
When the Sorting was finished, the feast was served. Lily noticed that Amelia was acting odd whenever Peter spoke to her.   
  
"Amelia, could you pass the soup?"   
  
"What?" Amelia jumped very slightly. "Oh....sure, Peter."   
  
Sirius looked at his sister with concern. "What's up?"   
  
"Nothing..." but she kept looking strangely at Peter.   
  
Dumbledore stood up from his place at the High Table and cleared his throat. The hall fell silent. "Another term! Another wonderful ten months to fill your brains with things that you'll probably forget over the summer holiday! A new crop of students..." He smiled at all of the relieved-looking first years in the hall. "And a new school song! The Sorting Hat has composed a lovely bunch of lyrics for us, but we all feel that it should remain without a set melody. Pick your favorite song and sing along!" He conjured up a ribbon of words from the end of his wand, and complete musical chaos erupted as everyone in the Great Hall started singing the words to various melodies.   
  
__"Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,   
Whether we be old and bald  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,   
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."  
  
Dumbledore beamed. "Very nice. I'm sure that the Sorting Hat is quite proud of you all."  He cleared his throat and changed topics. "On another note, I'm sure you are all wondering about the situation regarding our new Prefects. Our correspondence department was rendered rather inoperational when Professor McGonagall caught a nasty summer flu, and therefore, I will be announcing the new Prefects now."   
  
There was a general stir in the Great Hall. All of the now-fifth-years had simply thought that they hadn't been chosen as Prefects.   
  
"For Slytherin: Narcissa Taylor and Severus Snape." Grudging applause bounced lamely off of the vaulted ceiling. "For Hufflepuff: Miriam Forsythe and Amos Diggory." Slightly louder applause came. Hufflepuffs, despite being slightly off-beat, were nice people. "For Ravenclaw: Eva Ingsa and Robert Marley." The same tepid but appreciative applause was heard. "And finally, for Gryffindor: Lily Evans and James Potter." A few Filibuster fireworks went off (Sirius's doing, of course), and very admiring applause ensued.  However, the prankster in question said nothing. James took a quick glance at his friend, just to make sure that Sirius was making good on his promise, and he was sitting quietly, writing something on a piece of parchment. "Congratulations to all new Prefects. Please see Professor McGonagall - who, incidentally, has made a perfect recovery from her bout of flu - for your new House passwords."   
  
  
  
  
That night, everyone was relaxing in the common room, and Amelia took Lily aside. "Do you think Peter's a little creepy?"   
  
Involuntarily, Lily shook her head. "No. Why do you say that?"   
  
"He just gives me a weird feeling in my stomach...but it's not good, you know?"  
  
"You probably just ate too much at dinner. Don't worry about it," Lily said, not believing herself at all.   
  
Amelia tried a small smile. "You're right. Okay, I guess I'll just go to bed now. Night."   
  
  
  
  
"Lily? Wake up, Lily! Breakfast!" Juno was shaking her rather roughly from a sound sleep.  
  
Lily turned over, not quite awake yet. "Five more minutes!"   
  
Juno turned to Eurydice and sighed. "Let's get on with it." They circled around to the other side of her bed and heaved the end of the mattress upwards. With a thud, Lily was rolled from her sleeping position, sheets and all.   
  
"Ow!" Lily sprang to her feet, instantly defensive. "What'd you do that for?"   
  
Her two roommates were already awake and dressed. Juno spoke up. "You're not a morning person, Lil. I assume you slept in a lot over the summer holiday?"   
  
Lily grumbled, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Yeah...sure."   
  
Eurydice laughed. She stepped in front of the half-conscious Lily and waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello? Anyone home?"   
  
"Cut it out," Lily whined, brushing Eurydice's hand away. She picked up the tangle of her blankets huffily and plopped down on the floor with them. "I'm sleeping five more minutes, whether you like it or not."   
  
"Suuuure. Well, I guess we'd better go. Better go meet Sirius and Peter and Remus and __James." Juno put special emphasis on the last word, hoping that it would get Lily up out of her stupor. The extroverted girl frowned when all her bait caught was a distracted wave. "I said, JAMES." Still nothing. "What's with you?"   
  
"Whaddya mean, what's with me? I said I was going to take five more minutes!"   
  
Eurydice rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe Juno just thought-"  
  
"I thought that you'd hop to if I mentioned him, but I guess I was wrong," Juno cut in.  "Oh, well. See ya."   
  
Incidentally, this DID make Lily 'hop to.' "Wait a second." She pulled herself up from the heap of blankets and crossed to the door. "What do you mean by that?"   
  
Juno shrugged. "Well, you like him, don't you?"   
  
"Not again!" Lily sighed with exasperation. "Listen. I have said this about ten thousand times. James. And. I. Are. Just. Friends. Got it?"   
  
"Sure. Just friends. See you at breakfast." And they left the room, obviously not believing a word Lily had said.  
  
Lily sighed again and shut the door behind them. How long was it going to take before people figured it out? There was nothing between her and James! Then, without warning, a phantom memory swooped down on her, changing her perspective for even those brief few moments.   
  
When she had been dancing with Sirius, and they were spiraling across the floor (her toes becoming complete mincemeat), she had suddenly found herself in James's arms. They had stayed there, ignoring the music for just a minute. The feeling she had had...when she had felt her heart beating as one with James's...something about that feeling almost made her think that maybe...  
  
She cut off that train of thought, angrily pulling her robes over her head. It was just the romantic side of her acting up. That feeling was a direct result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time...or was it the right place at the right time?   
  
Amelia joined Lily in the common room. "Hi! Wanna walk down to breakfast with me? Isn't Hogwarts great? I'm so glad I'm in Gryffindor! If that hat had put me in Hufflepuff, I swear, I would've gotten right back on the train home! What do you think I should do first? Filibuster fireworks? Blow up a toilet? Send Mum a faucet? Shave Sirius's head again? I didn't like that song the hat made up, did you? I think it was kinda stupid, don't you? Well, it's got to be really really boring to be a hat. All you do is just sit there and...be a hat, right? I mean, there's not much at all to do except hang there on the hat rack and wait for someone to-"  
  
"Oh, look!" Lily cut her off by pointing to a perfectly ordinary gargoyle of a lion.  "Isn't that amazing?"   
  
Amelia looked at the gargoyle, back at Lily, the gargoyle, Lily, the gargoyle, and Lily.  "Are you okay? I heard of some kinda disease where people hallucinate or something and they think really weird stuff's happening when everything's ordinary, and it gets really weird sometimes. Am I talking too much? You'd tell me if I was, right?"   
  
Not wanting to answer, Lily simply took her seat at the Gryffindor table. "Hello, everyone! Sirius, Amelia's so much like you it's not funny."   
  
Sirius beamed and punched Amelia playfully on her puffy little shoulder. "Chip off the ol' block!"   
  
"I'm gonna be the best prankster in this whole school!" Amelia obviously had it all planned out for herself. "I don't know what I'll do first! How did you start out, Sirius?"   
  
"Well..." Sirius pursed his lips and leaned back in his chair like an old man reminiscing about his days in the military. "I suppose it all started when I was young and innocent like you. Just after I got my owl, I received many gifts."   
  
Remus grabbed a tuft of Sirius's hair and pulled. "All right, cut to the chase."   
  
"Hmmph!" Sirius rubbed his hair protectively. "Well! If you insist, I'll skip the introduction. Dad gave me a set of Filibuster fireworks. I was absolutely itching to set something on fire. As soon as I got to Hogwarts, I snuck into a bathroom and set them off in a toilet. In two words, sparks flew." He winked broadly at the world.   
  
"Wow. Should I do that?"   
  
Lily glared at Sirius. Feeling obligated as a Prefect, she stopped Amelia's thoughts of prankster glory early. "Sirius didn't tell you, Amelia, about the trouble he got in for setting off those fireworks."  
  
James obviously didn't feel as obligated. "Hey! If she wants to be a prankster, it's perfectly fine, isn't it, Sirius?"   
  
"Why, it's positively spiffing! After all, she's MY little sister, isn't she?" He made a shoo-ing gesture at Lily. "Go find some other little goody-two-shoes protegee. Don't go polluting young Amelia's thoughts! Go, go!" Sirius laughed at the indignant look on Lily's face. "No, I'm just kidding. But really, Lily, loosen up!"   
  
"Yeah, loosen up!" Remus chimed in. "Amelia very well might become the fifth Marauder!"   
  
James kicked Remus under the table for coming so close to revealing the secret. "We're pretty much etched in stone as a quartet. No offense, Amelia."   
  
Sirius took out that piece of parchment again and scribbled something down very quickly.  
  
"What's that, Padfoot?" Peter craned his neck around Lily and tried to get a good look at the parchment.   
  
"Oh...just some notes. I'm going to write a book," he explained, but his haste in crumpling it back into his pocket stated plainly that he was lying. At least, partially.  
  
Peter snorted. "Okay. A book. Whatever." He reached across Amelia to get the butter, and Lily thought Amelia was going to tip over backwards in the chair. The round little girl looked like she wanted to sink back into the chair. "Something wrong?" Peter asked as he buttered his toast.   
  
"Oh...no." Amelia put on a smile.   
  
"Just nervous about classes, right?"   
  
"Yup." She quickly cast an uneasy glance across the table to Lily.   
  
Lily smiled disarmingly and started eating her breakfast, even though she was in absolutely no mood to eat anything. She could tell that Amelia knew something, had a strange feeling about Peter.   
  
Lily didn't want her to have that burden.   
  
  
  
  
__A/N: Sorry there's no action this time, but what's a brick wall without the cement   
holding them together? **@-------------------**___


	39. The Watcher

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

****

****

**Lily**

_Chapter 39_

_(ohh, we're edging 40…over the hill, u know)_

A week had passed since the Sorting, and Amelia was getting increasingly nervous around Peter. She was always watching with caution when he was around Lily, and now Amelia was starting to ask other people if they got the same "weird vibe," as she called it.   
  
"Sirius? I gotta ask you something."   
  
"Can it wait? I'm busy." Sirius was, in fact, scribbling on that little piece of parchment again.   
  
Amelia sighed. "I didn't want to have to do this!" She snatched the parchment right out from under his quill and held it just out of his reach.   
  
"Hey! Give that back!" He got up and started towards her.  
  
"Nuh-uh, not 'til you answer me!"  
  
Sirius looked over his shoulder nervously and lowered his voice. "Okay, just please don't let James catch sight of that!"   
  
"Don't worry...if you answer, I'll be lenient." She chuckled. "All right. You know Peter, right?"   
  
"Know him? He's been tagging along with James and Remus and me since our first year!"   
  
"In that time that you knew him, did you ever get a weird vibe off him?"   
  
"Amelia, I have got to tell mom not to let you watch those Muggle courtroom shows anymore."   
  
"Just answer the question, yes or no!"   
  
"No. What about you?"   
  
"Yes. Now, here's your parchment back...hehehehe, Sirius. What did he do, make you promise not to say anything about him and Lily anymore?"   
  
"How do you do that?"   
  
"I have my ways." She smiled, showing off her front teeth, and bounced away.   
  
  
  
  
  
That night, Lily couldn't sleep. Although she was thrilled at the prospect of being tipped out of bed in the morning, she decided to sleep down in the common room. She came down the stairs and settled into a cushy armchair.   
  
No sooner had she closed her eyes than someone seized her by the shoulders and ripped her out of the chair. "When will you learn?" Came a furious whisper. Lily knew all too well that it was Peter. "This time I'll find the dagger! And when I do...oh, I'll be sure it finds its way into your heart!" He whirled her around so that he had her from behind, and bent her head forcefully towards the fireplace. "If you don't tell me where it is, I'll char your hair from your head in the name of Voldemort!"   
  
The burning heat from the flames made her wince in pain. "I have told you more times than I can count that I don't know where the dagger is!"   
  
"It's the dagger of Slytherin! It belongs to the rightful Heir!" He pushed her head closer to the fire and hissed into her ear. "Stop lying. Where is it?"   
  
"I don't know! It was in that hiding place on the wall!" From out of the corner of her eye, Lily thought that she saw a tiny flutter of movement, like someone who was observing and didn't want to be seen.   
  
One of the sparks from the crackling log flew in an arc onto her hair, extinguishing itself after smoldering for a few seconds. "It's not anymore!" Peter shrieked. "You moved it, didn't you? Where is it? Tell me!" Then, as if he was remembering something, he took out his wand and held it at her throat. "Imperio! Tell me where the dagger is!"   
  
She felt as though every burden in the world was suddenly lifted from her shoulders. The fire was replaced with a cooling breeze that caressed her face, soothing all dangers.  From far away, she heard Peter's voice asking her a question. In a small murmur, she answered the truth: "I don't know."   
  
He released her with disgust, and she was rudely torn from the blissful feeling. Her arms whirled in a windmill as she fought to regain balance. "I'll find it. I swear I'll find it. And it'll do the same to you as it did to Chantel!"   
  
Again, Lily saw that flutter of movement, and she could have sworn that she also heard footsteps. Peter must have, as well, because he quickly put his wand away and scurried up the stairs to his dormitory.   
  
Lily breathed deeply and shakily, steadying herself. It was a good think Peter hadn't asked her who DID know, because she had been in no position to resist answering. That new curse...what had he said? Imperio? It was as bad as the other one. Preferring the safety of the dormitory, she made her way back up the steps. As she opened the dormitory door, though, she distinctly heard another one close very softly.   
  
  
  
  
The next morning, Amelia was waiting for Lily in the common room. The instant Lily arrived, Amelia got up and grabbed Lily's wrist with a puffy hand, pulling her to a less populated corner of the common room. "All right, Lily. For some reason, you didn't tell me anything about this, but I figured it out all on my own now."  
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"You know what I mean! I'm smarter than I look, you know, and I saw what happened last night!"   
  
Lily went pale. "Do you mean...by the fire...last night?"   
  
"I know who killed Chantel now." Amelia's little face was unsmiling now, and Lily swallowed hard as Amelia kept talking. "It was Peter, wasn't it? The Dagger of Slytherin, right?  And someone moved it from where he thought it was! Don't lie, I heard it, I saw it all last night! Lily, he wants to kill you!"   
  
The only thing Lily could find to do was to nod her head. The curse couldn't deny this.  It was sheer proof that Peter had killed Chantel, and Amelia knew that. "Do you know...do you know how long it's been that I've had to put up with this? Being the only one who knows anything about it?"   
  
"No, Lil. I don't, but I do know this: Sirius was totally wrecked over it, and he didn't have a single person to blame. But now? I'm going to tell him. I'm gonna tell everyone I can, all the way up to Professor Dumbledore!"   
  
"No!" Lily's tone was scared. "Whatever you do, don't let anyone else know that you know!"  
  
"Why not?" She demanded furiously.   
  
"You saw what happened last night. Is that enough for you?"   
  
"All right, then. The first person I tell is going to be Dumbledore! He'll make sure Peter's expelled, and put in Azkaban forever!" There was a grave smile across her round features.   
  
"Amelia, please don't. For your own safety, don't tell anyone! Don't let on that you know."   
  
"I can't promise anything. I'll probably break it. But I'll tell you that I'll try not to, okay?"   
  
"Okay. Be careful."


	40. The Snake

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

_A/N: Yay! We've reached the big 4-0! Isn't it about time for a mid-life crisis sort of thing? Kind of where our whole series turns completely around? *Ariana bops Clara with the hedgehog again and regains control of the keyboard* Yup. Forty fics of...this. Thanks to all of our faithful readers and reviewers. Just to let you know, I'm planning on continuing this far beyond the Marauders' graduation from Hogwarts. Beyond the wedding, beyond Harry's birth, beyond even the all-purpose cut-off date for MWPP fics (dum dum DUM), __October 31, 1981__.__ Of course, it'll be from different perspectives then.   
  
Oh, yes, one more thing. I was reading through PoA, and I don't think it ever really says who did the Fidelius charm. It implies that Dumbledore did, but never comes out and says it. If you have any ideas or information, I'm slightly desperate. :O)  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 40_

  
  
There was a Halloween ball in October, but it wasn't a very formal affair. Only one major thing happened during it. Eurydice still was feuding with Jessica, Vanessa's Ravenclaw friend (and Gilderoy's girlfriend). So, when Jessica started smirking at Eurydice for not dancing with anyone, Eurydice decided to prove a point.   
  
She approached the first boy who met her sight, a blonde boy pouring punch for himself. "Excuse me. Would you like to dance?" She didn't wait for an answer; she just grabbed his hands and started dancing. Lily recognized the boy immediately from across the room. It was Lucius Malfoy, and Eurydice was in big trouble if she kept dancing.   
  
Lily started moving quickly to cut off Lucius's date. Narcissa was storming angrily across the floor to where Eurydice and Lucius were dancing. It was too late! Narcissa had already separated them, and was screaming at Eurydice. "Who do you think you are? Get your own date!"   
  
"You're being such a-" Eurydice began angrily, but Lily cut her off.   
  
"Eurydice! Don't!"   
  
Narcissa stopped glaring and smiled very creepily at Eurydice. "So...your name is Eurydice, is it? Well, you certainly have stepped on a snake, haven't you?"   
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eurydice demanded.   
  
Lily pulled her away. "Please don't get into anything else! We don't need a fight!"   
  
"What did she mean, 'you certainly have stepped on a snake?'"   
  
"In Greek mythology, there was a nymph named Eurydice. She was dancing at her wedding, and she stepped on a snake, and..."   
  
"Oh, no." Eurydice had reverted to her timid form now that there were no adversaries around.   
  
"And the snake bit her...and she died." Lily bit her lip. "I guess Narcissa was likening the snake, you know. The symbol for Slytherin house is a snake...and you made a Slytherin angry." She fiddled nervously with her charm bracelet. "Don't worry. Do you really think you're going to die just by making Narcissa angry?"   
  
Eurydice looked truly nervous.   
  
"Don't worry," Lily repeated. "Anyways, the Eurydice in the story got a second chance. Her husband went all the way down to the Underworld to retrieve her spirit."   
  
"I guess you're right. It's just unrealistic, isn't it? Even to think that a myth would have any kind of significance?"   
  
"Right." What Lily hadn't told Eurydice was the part of the story where Orpheus (Eurydice's husband) had gone back on his deal with Hades...and Eurydice had gone back to the Underworld forever.   
  
  
  
  
The next day, Lily woke up later than usual. She wondered why Eurydice and Juno hadn't tipped her out of bed, but shrugged it off and walked down to the common room.   
  
"Lily! Have you seen Eurydice?" Juno ambushed her at the bottom of the stairs.   
  
"No. Isn't she just at breakfast or something?"   
  
"No! I checked the Great Hall, I asked everyone, I even looked in all the bathrooms! I can't find Eurydice anywhere!"   
  
"Juno, it's a big castle. She could be anywhere, don't worry."   
  
"HELLO? You don't remember what happened at the dance last night. She steeeepped. On a snaaaaaake. You said it yourself, Lily, in that myth, Eurydice died when she stepped on the snake!"   
  
"That's all it was, a myth. She's probably just not feeling well or something."  
  
"Right! The Hospital Wing!" Juno took off with brisk steps towards the Hospital Wing. "Come on!"   
  
Lily rolled her eyes and followed Juno. Out the portrait hole, down the staircase, down the corridor, right up to the hallway intersection where Juno turned right...  
  
And Lily turned left. She was in no mood to miss breakfast over a myth. In fact, she was finishing her breakfast when Juno stormed back in. "She wasn't there! It's like I told you: she isn't anywhere!"   
  
"Relax. If she doesn't show up for classes, THEN you can worry. Have some potatoes," she extended the dish towards Juno, who shook her head.   
  
"No, I'm not hungry. Listen, Lily. Have you ever known anyone to just...up and disappear?"  
  
"No. And I don't think Eurydice disappeared."  
  
"Then where is she?"   
  
"She probably got lost or something."  
  
"Come on, she's been going here for more than four years. She's not lost, she disappeared!"  
  
"We've got Charms. Let's go," Lily said, grabbing her school bag and starting out of the  
Hall.   
  
"Just you watch, Eurydice won't be there!" Juno scrambled out after Lily, heading towards Charms class.   
  
  
  
By lunchtime, Eurydice had yet to be found. Juno drummed her fingers nervously on the table and looked over her shoulder at the Slytherins. "That's it. I'm going to Dumbledore." She rose and started out the door.   
  
Lily turned to the Marauders, who were looking distinctly confused. "Eurydice hasn't been anywhere all day." She explained about the whole mythological connection, and Narcissa's comment the previous night at the dance.   
  
Sirius, who had never been very superstitious, shook his head and leaned back unconcernedly.   
"Knowing girls, she's probably holed up in a bathroom somewhere, still putting her face on."  
  
Remus glared at him. "Knowing Eurydice, and dissmissing all stereotypes as the untrue statements they are, she's probably not. Come on, Sirius, she was here last night for the ball, but she's not here today. She's not in the Hospital Wing, so she can't be sick or anything."   
  
"Sure," Sirius smirked. "And you probably want us all to run around like chickens with our heads cut off looking for a girl who is, most likely, having a discussion with Moaning Myrtle about eyeshadow. Anyways, you WOULD take Juno's side."   
  
"Hey, can we please stay rational?" Lily saw the indignant anger boil into Remus's eyes at Sirius's comment, and tried to calm the situation. "Look, I'll follow Juno. I'll try to calm her down-" that would please Sirius. "And then I'll help her look around Hogwarts for Eurydice." Hopefully, that was going to pacify Remus. Lily rose and walked out.   
  
For as long as she could, she simply followed her knowledge of the castle to direct herself. But there came a point when she had to come to grips with the fact that she had forgotten where Dumbledore's office was. "Excuse me," she said, tapping a particularly tall suit of armor on the shoulder. "Do you know how I can get to Dumbledore's office?"   
  
The suit of armor shrugged creakily and pointed its battle-ax down a corridor. "He usually passes that way after supper."   
  
"Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome."   
  
As Lily turned down the corridor, she suddenly had a mental double-take and realized how odd that exchange was by Muggle standards. She had just asked a suit of armor for directions. Laughing to herself, Lily kept walking until she saw the stone gargoyle she remembered from her first year, after Voldemort had killed Chrissy. There it stood, not revealing anything. There was no door or even an outline of one in the brick wall behind it, and Lily had no idea what the password now was. All she knew was that it had been a candy. "Er...Twizzlers?" The gargoyle didn't move. "Gobstoppers? Cinnamon drops? Ice Cream? M&M's? Er...oh, wizard candy! Okay, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans?   
Fizzing Whizbees? Levitating Sherbets? Chocolate Frogs?" Finally, the gargoyle stood up and stepped cordially aside, opening a hidden door. "Why, thank you."   
  
She heard Juno's tense voice from within. "...and the Hospital Wing, even! She's not anywhere, Professor!" Lily cleared her throat softly to make herself known, and Juno's head whipped around to where she stood. "Lily! Lily knows all about it! Tell him, Lily!"   
  
Dumbledore nodded to Lily from behind his desk and conjured up a chair. "Have a seat." He continued as Lily seated herself a bit nervously. "Now, from what Miss Frese has been telling me, Miss Ramsey is nowhere to be found. Has that been your experience, as well?"   
  
Lily nodded, not quite sure of what to say.   
  
"I see. Is there any reason for us to believe that harm has come to her?"   
  
Lily and Juno exchanged a strained glance. They were both feeling a little stupid about magnifying a myth to realistic proportions, but the fact of the matter was that Narcissa had done the same. "Well..." Lily began, looking for the words. "Last night at the dance, Eurydice started to dance with someone-"  
  
"A filthy Slytherin!" Juno cut in angrily. "And the worst one of them all! Lucius Malfoy, the stupid little-"  
  
"LIKE I was saying!" Lily stepped on Juno's foot. "Eurydice started to dance with Lucius Malfoy, because someone was teasing her a little about not having a date. Then, Lucius's date-"  
  
"Narcissa! The little slimeball, if I ever get my hands around her bony neck, I swear-"  
  
"Miss Frese, would you please consider containing yourself?"   
  
"Well, Narcissa went over to Eurydice and Lucius and broke them apart. When Narcissa found out that her name was Eurydice, she got this weird smile on her face and said, 'Oh, your name is Eurydice, is it? You certainly have stepped on a snake.' And in a Greek myth-"  
  
"I know what happened in that myth." Dumbledore rested his chin on the tips of his fingers and looked up at the ceiling pensively. "So. Miss Ramsey 'stepped on a snake.' What, realistically, can a fifth-year do to her that would cause any terrible damage?"


	41. Hogsmeade

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 41_

  
A/N- Aren't cliffhangers the most lovely things on Earth? They keep a reader in breathless suspense, awaiting anxiously the next installment with anime sweat drops on their brows...But enough poetry! You want to read the story, right?   
  
  
  
Juno walked into the Great Hall, dark circles evident under her eyes. "Any..."  
  
"Nope." Lily watched Juno make a rather rude gesture towards the Slytherins.   
  
"They should all just go get stuffed!"   
  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Listen. Narcissa's just a pratty idiot who couldn't really magic her way out of a paper bag, so what are we all worried about?"   
  
"We're worried about all the other pratty idiots who CAN magic their ways out of paper bags, so get off our backs!" Juno snapped.   
  
Sirius saluted smartly. "Yes, ma'am! After I get off your backs, should I join the Slytherins at the taxidermist, ma'am?"   
  
Juno was obviously not amused. Her fuse was dangerously short at the moment, so she slammed a fist on the table with every word, and pointed viciously at Sirius. "Listen! You don't seem to get this! My best friend is missing and has been for almost a month! Dumbledore couldn't find her! McGonagall couldn't find her! We got so desperate, we even asked Professor Lollio to find her! She couldn't find her, either, even when we convinced her that we wanted her found because someone was asking her to a ball! Nobody can find her! SHE! IS! GONE!" Somehow, the reality of saying those words stunned Juno.   
  
  
"Okay, I'll go down to the dungeons to be whipped and hung at dawn, that gonna make you happy?" Sirius smiled sardonically, trying to bring Juno back to normal.   
  
Juno dropped her hand and spoke in a rather small voice, as though Sirius hadn't said anything. "She's gone. Eurydice is gone."   
  
Sirius shrugged, starting to feel a little bad. "Well...I guess she's gotta be somewhere, doesn't she?"   
  
Remus had just arrived. "Haven't you already said enough, Padfoot?" Sirius looked from Lily to Remus to Juno, trying to find some kind of support. When none of their faces showed any sympathy or amusement, he seemed, for once in his life, speechless.  
  
"Er...sorry, I guess. It's just...er...er..." It was obviously a very weird situation for him to be robbed of his impulsive, sarcastic nature by such a tough room. "Okay, well, they SHOULD go get stuffed. Cheer up, everyone! C'mon, Hogsmeade tomorrow! Maybe Eurydice's there!"   
  
"Class," Lily said, rising abruptly. "We've got Potions. Bye, Remus, bye, Sirius."   
  
Juno followed in her wake, still looking stunned at the fact that Eurydice was just nowhere to be found.   
  
  
  


That night at dinner, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. "Pardon me for interrupting your sumptuous dinner, but there is a very grave issue at hand. A student has gone missing."   
  
All around the hall, people whispered to their friends.   
  
"It's that Eurydice girl, I told you!"  
  
"I heard that Narcissa got someone to...ya know..."   
  
Dumbledore raised a hand for silence, taking brief note of the smirks on some Slytherins' faces. "If anyone has any verifiable information as to Miss Ramsey's whereabouts, approach the nearest teacher immediately. I cannot stress enough the urgency of this situation. You may all return...to your dinner now." He had paused, noticing that very few Slytherins had stopped eating.   
  
  
James woke up early the next morning and took a piece of old parchment from under his bed.  "Wake up! Come on, wake up, you guys, time to go!" As Sirius, Remus, and Peter yawned and   
pulled on their robes, James stood impatiently by the door. "Let's go!" The other three Marauders followed him down the staircase and across the common room to the portrait hole.   
  
The moment James pushed it open, he heard a voice from across the room.  "And just where do you four think you're going?"   
  
James whipped around to see Lily, standing at the bottom of the girls' dormitory stairs, looking slightly cross. "Oh...it's only you, Lily."  
  
"What do you mean, 'it's only me?'"  
  
"Well, we thought it was Professor McGonagall or someone like that," Remus blurted.   
  
"Oh," Lily seemed rather delighted. "And exactly why would it be so bad for McGonagall to catch you?"  
  
"No reason!" Sirius scrambled to cover his tracks. "No reason at all. Now, you go back and get your beauty rest. You need it, if you don't mind me saying so."  
  
James shook his head a little indignantly. "Knock it off, Sirius."   
  
Sirius made a face like he was holding something back. It looked painful. "Give me that parchment, now!"   
  
"But it's-"  
  
"I don't care if it's the map! Give me the parchment!" He snatched it from James and scribbled something down on it. "Ah...that's better."  
  
Strange though Sirius's behavior was, Lily was more concerned with his words. "Ah-hah! It has something to do with that map! Going to Hogsmeade a little early, are you? Well, I'm not going to stand for this!"   
  
"Oh, come on, Lily!"  
  
"Don't tell McGonagall!"  
  
(Sirius scribbled something on the parchment again)  
  
Lily grabbed the Invisibility Cloak from Remus and swirled it about her shoulders. "Tell McGonagall? Why would I do that? I'm coming with you!"  
  
Remus looked at Sirius, his mouth open. "Is that okay?"   
  
Sirius, while writing, spoke quite rationally. "Well, she does happen to have the advantage, seeing as she's invisible and we're not. You can come with us, Lil, but on TWO conditions." He held the map just out of her reach. "First, you let ME carry the map.  Second, you walk right on over here and give James a big kiss."   
  
Lily breezed past them, opening the portrait hole and walking out. She knew they were following, but that's not what she was concentrating on. For some reason, Sirius's second condition hadn't sounded too terrible. She had honestly considered giving James an anonymous kiss on the cheek, but then realized the ridicule that she would have suffered from Sirius. No, it was all just the power of suggestion. One too many people had thought that she liked James, and that was affecting her judgment! Lily mentally cursed everyone who had ever assumed that there was anything between her and James.   
  
"Wait up!" Remus's stage whisper echoed down the corridor. "Wait for us, come on!"   
  
Lily ducked behind a suit of armor, took off the Invisibility Cloak, and stepped back out.   
  
"Well, at least you had the common decency to wait when we asked you to!" Sirius had put on a slightly 'hoity-toity' voice.   
  
Lily smiled deviously. "It had nothing to do with common decency. I just don't know how to get into Hogsmeade without that map."   
  
James looked like he wasn't quite sure if that was supposed to be funny or not. There was a tiny half-smile on his face that gave Lily an odd little feeling in her stomach.  "Well...which passageway do you want to use?" He held up the parchment, tapped it with his wand, and spoke. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Lines of ink stretched like thin spider-legs across the paper as James examined the map. "Right. All the teachers are in their offices, and Mrs. Norris is on the fourth floor corridor, so we don't have to worry about them. And you remember that this one-" he pointed to the passage behind a mirror "-is caved in. I think we should go through the Dissendium passage, cos then we can go to the Honeyduke's cellar and nick some sweets. How about it?"   
  
  
"Dissendium." Remus whispered, pointing his wand toward the statue of the one-eyed witch. It immediately moved to the side, revealing a door. Motioning for Lily to go first, Sirius shoved her down the rocky slide before she could object.   
  
"Ahhhhh!" Lily flared her limbs in windmill-like motions, completely disoriented. Once she slid onto level ground, she heard Sirius's voice cascading closer every second.   
  
"Weeeeeee!" An utterly estatic Sirius landed with a thud and skipped to her side.   
  
Lily took a slow breath before turning and saying in a dangerously soft voice, "Don't EVER do that to me again! Got it?" Sirius' grin broadened maddeningly, almost as if he was saying, 'I know something you don't know!'  
  
"Lumos," James murmured as he, Remus, and Peter jumped off the steep slope and onto the dirt-floored passageway.   
  
Sirius started walking forward and beckoned for everyone to follow. "The map says it's that way to Honeydukes." Just as the special parchment revealed, they soon arrived in the cellar of the world-famous sweets shop.   
  
Lily's jaw dropped. Stacked to the ceiling were barrels full of all kinds of candy: pear drops, fizzing whizbees, Drooble's best blowing gum, licorice wands, Bertie Bott's every flavor beans, sugar quills, chocolate frogs, peppermint toads, pumpkin pasties, and everything in between. Suddenly, she noticed Sirius scooping up handfuls from each of the barrels and stuffing his pockets (and mouth). "Sirius!" Lily slapped his wrist as he reached into the next barrel.   
  
"Ow! What's up with you?" He massaged his wrist injuredly.   
  
"Put those back right now!" Lily demanded. "What you're doing is ILLEGAL!"   
  
James crossed his arms and leaned back against a large barrel of Every Flavor Beans. "Aw, c'mon, Lily, lighten up!"   
  
Sirius reached for a quill, but then thought better of it and went back to the issue at hand. "Listen, if you had known half the times that we'd done this before, we'd have been arrested twenty times over!"   
  
"Well, it's just not right!"   
  
Remus sighed. "Look, Lily, we're Marauders, not just by name, but by trade. And a marauder, by the strictest definition of the word is...Peter?"   
  
"'Marauder- one who roams or goes around in quest of plunder; one who makes a raid for booty.'" He had obviously memorized the definition.  "So, you see, it's our duty to 'raid for booty.' Care to join us?"   
  
Lily rolled her eyes. "Absolutely not. I'll just stand here and make sure you four don't take anything big." She strolled around the basement disapprovingly, pursing her lips like an old mother hen. The little red-haired girl looked more like McGonagall than anyone could have thought possible. However, it was just a front; she leaned over James's shoulder and whispered, "Aren't you going to get any sugar quills? They're my favorite!"   
  
  
  
  
"James? James Potter?" A curvy-looking young woman appeared at the doorway of the Three   
Broomsticks. "James Potter and Sirius Black, back in here at last!"  
  
"Hey! Rosemerta, we haven't seen you for over a week!" Lily shot Sirius a curious look.   
  
"A week isn't THAT long." Lily muttered to James. "How often DO you come here?" James shrugged as though the action answered her question. She sighed loudly in frustration as Madam Rosemerta led them to an empty table.   
  
"And who's your lady friend?" Madam Rosemerta teased, making conversation before taking their orders.   
  
Sirius scribbled something else on the parchment, saying, "Lily Evans."  
  
"Oh! Lily! I've heard so much about you!"   
  
Lily arched an eyebrow.   
  
"Oh, my little sister. She talks about you constantly!" Madam Rosemerta smiled warmly as if knowing her for years.   
  
"Who's your sister?"   
  
"Eurydice Ramsey."   
  
James' smile turned to a frown, his eyes shifted downward.   
  
The smile faded off of Rosmerta's face. "What? What's wrong?"   
  
Remus bit his lip anxiously and glanced at the other Marauders. "Er...I think we'd better tell you something, Rosmerta....."  
  
  
  
  
"So....she's gone?" Madam Rosemerta dabbed at her eyes with the edge of the nearest napkin. "Just gone?"  
  
Feeling her voice was going to crack, Lily nodded.   
  
"Madam?!? Can I get another Butter Beer?" A man from a nearby table waved his hand to get her attention.  
  
"Yes, sir. I'll be over in a minute." Madam Rosemerta hoisted herself off her chair, looking as though she had a small lead weight in her chest. "I'll be back in a moment."  
  
Remus slurped rudely through his straw while Lily gazed pass his shoulder.  The man on whom Madam Rosemerta was waiting, occupied a table in a dark corner. He was scowling and grumbling to himself, seeming rather miserable. His dusky hair hung limply over his eyes, hiding his stonelike features.  
  
As soon as Lily noticed him, the man flipped his hair to one side with a jerk of his head. He lifted his gaze slightly, making eye contact with her. His stare reminded her of an eagle who just found it's prey, burrowing through hers like an ant to the dirt. An odd sensation developed at the pit of her stomach, causing her to shift uncomfortably in her seat. There was something about that man's gaze that made her very nervous.   
  
"Lily?" Remus questioned her. "Are you okay? You're looking kinda pale..."  
  
"I'm fine." Lily answered, still staring in the same direction.

  
"Are you sure?" Remus pressed on.  
  
Lily's hand raked through her hair in annoyance and confusion. "Have you ever had a bad feeling?"  
  
"Yeah. Once a month,"  He joked.

"No, what I mean is....have you ever had an uneasy feeling about someone that you've never   
met before?"  
  
"Actually, yes. See that guy over there? Behind you? He's giving me the creeps." Remus gestured passed her. "He's been staring at you for at least ten minutes!"  
  
"Him?" Lily twisted her body, looking over her own shoulder.   
  
"Yeah, him. He's giving me the creeps." Remus shuddered, trying to make his point.  
  
Lily shifted one shoulder in a half shrug. She turned around in her chair, not getting why Remus felt uneasy about the brown haired teen behind her. The boy was even sitting with an elderly woman! Lily grunted softly in confusion.   
  
Remus made a face, then went back to his drink without uttering another word. Lily, too, turned back to her butter beer, slurping and sipping.  
  
"C'mon! At this rate, we'll never make it to Zonko's!!" Peter whined from the other side of the table.   
  
"Does anyone know what time it is?"   
  
James looked at a high-tech device on his wrist. "Past curfew."   
  
Lily groaned involuntarily.   
  
  
  
"Is this it?" The lady at the cash register asked.   
  
"No," Sirius dumped another pile of dungbombs, joke books, fake wands, and other little goodies on the counter. "The extra dungbombs are for Amelia."   
  
"James?" Lily pleaded.  
  
"Hey, it's not my fault if Sirius is polluting her tender little mind," James mumbled sarcastically, taking out several Sickles to pay for the tricks.   
  
"Thank you, have a nice day!" The employee stuffed the purchases into bags and watched the five Hogwarts students leave.  
  
  
  
"It's getting dark." Lily looked around, only the shapes of objects could vaguely be seen.  
  
"And cold." Sirius wrapped his cloak over his body protectively.  He exhaled, his breath crystallizing before him, which made Lily giggle uneasily.  
  
"What's so funny?" He asked grumpily.  
  
"Nothing. Nothing at all." Lily shivered slightly as she broke the silence, "Who has the Invisibility Cloak?"  
  
"I do." James reached into his pocket, bringing out silver material.  
  
"Can I see it? Please? Just for a minute." She pleaded.   
  
"Ooookay, but only for a minute." James watched as Sirius scribbled furiously on the back of the parchment.   
  
"Thanks." Lily whipped it around her shoulders.  
  
She bent down and picked up a small pile of the early snow, clonking Remus in the back of his head.   
  
He peered around blankly, unaware of where she stood. "That's not fair! I can't even see you!" Remus whined, brushing off the melting snow that was sliding down his neck and onto his shirt collar.  
  
"I think it's quite fair!" Lily giggled.  
  
"Well, you have the cloak!"   
  
"If you want it so bad, come and get it!" James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter made a quick dash in the direction of where the snowball came from. Instead of running away from their approaching forms, she stepped closer. Chuckling evilly, she grabbed two snowballs, one in each hand, and aimed them towards James and Sirius.   
  
_Splosh__! Splat! She hit her targets!   
  
"Hey!"   
  
"What'd you do that for?"   
  
Lily skipped across the snow and into a patch of bushes. Ducking low, she took off the cloak and set it neatly on a branch. As suddenly as she set the cloak down, a hand clamped itself over her mouth, and another around her waist; pulling her farther in the branches.  
  
She bit down on the fingers that held her mouth shut; sinking her teeth into the person's flesh until she felt him bleed. Panic and confusion swam through her veins like a horrible current. Her mind screamed 'RUN!!' as she flailed her limbs in every direction, struggling to get free. Lily was running quickly out of energy as her efforts weakened.   
  
"Lily? We give up! Let's get back to Hogwarts now!" James' voice rang in her ears.   
  
"Mmmmmmmmmmmhhhllllllmmmmm!" The tight hand muffled her words, making it impossible for her to talk.   
  
"Yeah, c'mon, Lily! We've had enough!" The voice that rang piercingly from the edge of the woods struck such fear into her heart that she had never felt before.   
  
The person standing behind her with a hood covering his face...was not Peter._


	42. Unconcluded

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood

**Lily**

_Chapter 42_

A/N: CLIFFHANGERS OF THE WORLD UNIIIITE!!!  
  
  


   
  
Lily drew in ragged breaths, her heart beating harder and faster than ever before. If it wasn't Peter, who was it? And why? Was it some other person, working for Voldemort? All these questions were literally dragged from her mind as the mysterious figure pulled her roughly through the undergrowth.   
  
"Hey, we already said that we give up! Come on!"   
  
"Lily? Lily, where are you?"   
  
A tear started to course down her cheek, despite the hand placed firmly over her mouth and nose. What would happen to her? What would Sirius and Remus and James think? Is this what had happened to Eurydice? Was Juno next? Suddenly, her foot latched onto a large tree root, stalling her assailant for awhile. His guttural voice rasped at her as he tugged relentlessly. "Let go, you stupid girl!" He pulled and twisted mercilessly with one arm, the other covering her mouth. "I mean it! Let go!" Now there was a note of panic in his voice, and Lily knew that she was accomplishing her goal. Pain surged through her ankle, but she wouldn't untangle her foot! Finally, he cursed sharply and let go of her, retreating into the forest with all speed.   
  
Lily heard the Marauders crashing through the brush, calling to her. "Lily! Come on!" She sat up against a tree trunk, tears stinging her eyes as she clutched her ankle.   
  
Sirius was the first one to arrive. Instead of looking shocked at her invalidity, he just shook his head as though he had been expecting something like this. "I found her, guys, and wouldn't ya know it, she's been warding off Dark Wizards again. What happened this time, Lil? Some stupid Death Eater come and --" He was silenced by a withering glance from Remus.   
  
"Jeez, Lily, what happened?" Remus stared down at her ankle, gaping at its mangled state. "No, wait, don't answer that. I don't think we really want to know."   
  
"You probably don't," she gasped through pain-clenched teeth.   
  
James and Peter appeared, running in from the same direction. "Sorry. Peter got stuck in some branches..." James rolled his eyes. "Oh, man, Lily, you've really done it this time, haven't you? Well, let's get her to the Hospital Wing, shall we?" The Marauders took a large cloak and held it between them like a stretcher, lifting Lily onto it and starting to carry her back through the woods.   
  
"Hey, I could walk on my own, you know!" She hopped onto her good foot and steadied herself by placing a hand on Sirius's and Remus's shoulders. "Just don't go too fast, and I'll hop back."   
  
They had to go back through the 'legal entrance,' as Lily called it, because she would never have been able to make it up the slope in the Dissendium passageway. Professor McGonagall greeted them with a veritable barrage of furious questions, completely disregarding the fact that Lily was hurt.   
  
"Where have you been? It's a half hour past curfew! What have you been doing all this time? Why are you hopping? And what on earth happened to your hair, Miss Evans?"   
  
It was only then that Lily realized the amount of sticks, dirt, leaves, and, yes, bugs stuck in her hair. "Er, well, you see, it was, er-"  
  
Sirius, who was far more experienced in telling believable fables, came to the rescue. "We started playing a game of hide-and-seek, Deputy Headmistress."   
  
"What in the world is hide and seek?"   
  
"Well, I've got a third cousin-in-law who married a half-blood, and they had a a little son who married a full Muggle, but that turned out to be Remus's fifth cousin, which we both thought to be quite a delightful coincidence, seeing as we kept running into each other at family reunions and the like, and-oh, goodness, I must tell you about this one time when we pelted my second uncle with-"  
  
"Mr. Black, would you please get to the point??" McGonagall snapped.   
  
"Yes, ma'am! It's a Muggle game. Remus's sixth cousin taught it to me. Basically, one person counts to a predetermined number with his or her eyes closed, and the others run and hide."   
  
"What is so amusing about that?"  
  
"It's actually very amusing, for its simplicity, ma'am." Sirius was obviously slathering on the charm, trying to butter McGonagall up. "Well, we started playing a game of hide-and-seek before curfew, and I found these three baboons easily enough, but Lily had chosen such a clever hiding place that we were all quite lost trying to find her. When we found her, Lily had apparently had an encounter with some kind of animal, perhaps a manticore?"  
  
"Don't be ridiculous, there are no manticores anywhere near this village!"  
  
"Right. Er...something less dangerous. Maybe it was a very angry flobberworm. In any case, Lily had a bad encounter with some wild animal, and it obviously messed her up pretty badly. James here was first on the scene, and acted very responsibly, if I do say so myself."   
  
Lily could just hear the unspoken concluding sentence: "and that, ladies and gentlemen of Parliament, is why no penalty should be issued to Gryffindor or any of these students."   
  
It worked. "Well, all right, then. Miss Evans, let's get you to the Hospital Wing now, Madam Pomfrey will patch you up well enough."   
  
  
  
Madam Pomfrey stayed true to her reputation of quick, unquestioning relief for any ailment. Lily was released after about fifteen minutes, and headed back to the Gryffindor common room, where Amelia, Juno, and the Marauders were waiting for her. Amelia was seated closest to the arm of the couch, curled up in a little worried ball as far away from Peter as possible. Juno sat with her arms and legs crossed, her entire affect suggesting additude and a very 'don't mess with me' air.   
  
"Hi, everyone." Lily said timidly as she stepped through the portrait hole.   
  
"Lily!" Amelia sprang up and dashed across the room, hugging Lily tightly around the waist. "You're okay!"   
  
"I'm fine, Amelia!" Lily gasped out. "Could you please let go of me?"   
  
"Sirius said you probably got eaten by an Acromantula or something!" She turned around and stuck her tongue out at her brother. "Liar." The pudgy face turned up towards Lily, her eyes shining eagerly. "So what really happened?"   
  
"Um...we were playing hide-and-seek....."  
  
  
  
  
The Christmas holidays were approaching quickly, and excitement was climbing as students bounced cheerily around the school, ecstatic at the looming holiday. Sirius and Amelia had a conversation over breakfast on the Wednsday before the Hogwarts Express left.   
  
"Now, listen, Amelia, I really don't want any more Howlers. It's kind of embarrassing that my little sister is yelling at me, okay?"  
  
Amelia swallowed a bite of sausage and pointed her fork at Sirius. "Well, I can't promise anything about Howlers, but you can stay here if you want."   
  
"Really?" Sirius brightened considerably. "What's different this year?"   
  
"Last year, Dad was in Bejing on Ministry business. This year, he's home! So you don't have to come home and take care of me and mum."   
  
"Great! That's just great!"   
  
"I know I am. Now, get back to your bacon."   
  
  
  
That Friday was riddled with thick fog. Students loading their things onto the Hogwarts Express had trouble seeing where the train actually was. Amelia and Juno were saying their good-byes.   
  
"See ya, Lil. I'll send loads of owls if you will," Juno said as she leaned against the fog-slick compartment wall.   
  
"Bye, Juno. See you at the end of the holiday." Lily smiled reassuringly, handing Juno a large carpetbag. "Don't worry. I'm sure Eurydice'll turn up by the time you're back."   
  
"Thanks," Juno said loudly. She had obviously disregarded the last sentence that Lily said. "Bye."   
  
Lily shook her head and turned to see Amelia standing right in front of her. "Girl-to-girl conference. Now." She felt the puffy hand grab her wrist and lead her off to the side. "All right, Lily. I've been quiet for a long long long time, and it's really really hard!" Amelia suddenly wrapped Lily into a tight embrace and spoke in a muffled voice from somewhere around Lily's waist. "How long did you think I was gonna stay quiet?" Before Lily could react, Amelia had let go and whispered in her ear, "I'm going to tell my mummy and daddy." Then, she ran into the train compartment and dragged her luggage in after her.   
  
The train pulled away, leaving Lily only to yell after the tiny face smiling out the window. "Amelia! Amelia, please don't!"   
  
"Don't what?" Sirius's voice questioned from behind her.   
  
"Er...don't tell anyone about the hide-and-seek situation in the woods. It's kind of embarrassing, don't you think?"   
  
Sirius shrugged. "I don't mind. But if you don't want anyone else to know how easily that flobberworm twisted your ankle, that's okay with me." The Marauders laughed. "C'mon. Let's get back to the common room." They headed back to the castle, carefully picking their way through the misty shroud that hung over the day.   
  
  
  
  
In the Forbidden Forest, a confrontation was taking place.   
  
"You IDIOT! You let someone else find out? What about the Silencing Charm?"   
  
"Master...I am sorry."  
  
"Who was it? Did she tell anyone else?"   
  
"It was Black's sister...Amelia. I don't know if she told another."   
  
"Do you understand the consequences if she did?"   
  
"Yes, Master. She said - she said that she would tell her parents."   
  
"We can't have that, can we?"   
  
"No, Master."   
  
"The girl will have to die." 


	43. Good Byes

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 43_

  
  
Sirius stuck two French fries up his nose and sneezed. The fries flew across the table and hit Remus in the forehead. Sirius roared with laughter. "I've always - haha! - been kind of allergic to potatoes!"   
  
James, Peter, and Lily joined in the laughter, but Remus was too busy scrubbing furiously at his forehead with a napkin. "Why couldn't you have turned around for that?"   
  
James shook his head. "You don't seem to get it. It is so strongly against Sirius's nature to turn around when he's about to sneeze fries that it approaches impossibility."   
  
Sirius calmed down and tapped his goblet with a fork. "Okay, okay. If you think that was amusing, prepare to die with laughter." He popped a rather gross-looking Brussels sprout into his mouth and, seconds later, had passed it through his nose.   
  
"Ew!" Lily made a gagging noise and covered her mouth nauseously while Peter and Remus laughed.   
  
James pushed his plate away. "There goes my appetite."   
  
"Come on! It's the Christmas Eve feast, James, and it's your sacred obligation as a Marauder to not only stuff yourself now, but to party late into the night with plundered goods!" Sirius held a large tureen of beef stew up to James and began ladling it into his bowl. "Eat up, little Jimmy!"   
  
"Oh, get off it." James stared disgustedly at the Brussels sprout that lay on the tablecloth. "Could you just...move that off the table? It's kind of making me sick."   
  
Sirius nodded and flicked the offending object off the table, sending it flying onto Professor Lollio's hat. This caused even more merriment among the friends, as Professor Lollio seemed not to notice it.   
  
  
  
That night in the common room, the Marauders disappeared (literally) and returned with their pockets full of little petit fors and sweets of all sorts. The remaining Gryffindors held a small but noisy celebration, and James transfigured a tall candle into a waxy-looking Christmas Tree. Everyone chipped in to decorate it: Remus conjured up some faintly glowing orbs and hung them from the branches, Peter added strings of popcorn, Lily charmed the tree to sparkle and change color with the mood of the person looking at it. Sirius added an angel at the top, which, on closer inspection, was found to be rather short, pudgy, and wearing thick glasses with black rims.   
  
At around 1:30, their sugar highs finally fading into exhaustion, the students dragged themselves up to the dormitories with visions of large fizzing whizbees dancing in their heads.   
  
Lily's last thought before dropping into sleep was uneasy. She, again, was the only one occupying a room with three beds in it.   
  
  
  
Lily awoke from a dream she didn't remember, only to find a veritable forest of gifts at the foot of her bed. She picked up the one closest to her. It was wrapped in crinkly gold paper and a red lace ribbon. The tag read, "To Lily, from Amelia." Lily quirkily unwrapped it, being very careful not to rip the paper. It was a book entitled, "Muggle Legal Practices and Why We Care." There was a bookmark inserted in one page, and Lily opened up to that page and read it aloud. "It is common Muggle knowledge that it is a severe crime to withhold information from the proper authorities, especially when another crime has occurred and has not been punished." Lily sighed and put the book aside, not wanting to feel worried.   
  
The next one was just an envelope with a Christmas tree pattern on a white background. She opened it to find a bell-shaped card that contained a message written in sloppy but readable handwriting:   
  
Dear Lily,   
  
Merry Christmas! Sorry that this was all I could get you, but I'm running low on cash, and you've guilted me into swearing off illegal doings. If you are unsatisfied, remember that you brought this on yourself.   
  
Sufferingly,  
Sirius  
  
Lily rolled her eyes and shook three Every Flavor beans out of the envelope. "Verrrrry funny." She moved on to the other gifts, and unearthed a box of Chocolate Frogs from Remus, a book of advanced Charms from James, an insensitive card from Peter, and, to her vast surprise, a letter from Petunia.   
  
Dear Lily,   
  
Don't ask me how I got this to you, because I don't know how your mail works. I got a letter from your stupid "Minister of Magic" telling me that I should really send you a letter in the Christmas spirit, and my boyfriend told me that it would be a good idea to listen to them. You never know what your kind will do if you make them angry.   
  
Sincerely,   
Petunia  
  
P.S. Don't write back.  
P.P.S. I don't suppose _you've got a boyfriend.   
  
Lily crumpled the letter and threw it across the room into the dustbin. It was Christmas, and she wasn't going to allow a stupid letter ruin her morning. She rose and got dressed for breakfast.   
  
  
  
Sirius and James were already wolfing down hotcakes and syrup like nobody's business, and didn't stop for Lily.   
  
"Merry Christmas," Lily said cheerily. There was no response. "I said, 'Merry Christmas!'"   
  
James kicked Sirius under the table, and both of them stopped eating. "Sorry, Lil. I've got a bet that I can eat more pancakes than Sirius, and he's betting that he can eat more than I can."   
  
"How much have you eaten so far?"   
  
They each pointed to their own stack of plates. Both of the stacks were the exact same height. "I don't think anyone's going to win this bet," Sirius remarked.   
  
"Oh, yes, I forgot to thank you for your lavish gift," Lily said, her voice oozing sarcasm. "How about you re-start the contest on three? One...two...THREE!"   
  
The two boys dove into their plates and started eating at high speed. It was five minutes until Remus and Peter came into the Great Hall, and James and Sirius were still at it. "Jeez!" Remus yelled as a rogue drop of syrup landed on his nose. "Why can't you eat like the rest of the world?"   
  
"How's that, Remus?" Lily asked drily.   
  
"Without spraying innocent bystanders with syrup," he muttered irritably as he mopped the sticky goo off of his nose.   
  
The contest raged on for at least another ten minutes. The plates stacked higher and higher until finally, both James and Sirius simultaneously set a plate off to the side...and collapsed. Lily walked behind them and held up both of their fists. "I hereby declare this contest a tie! Both of you numbskulls can keep your money!"   
  
"Good," sounded Sirius's weak voice from the tablecloth. "I don't have ten Galleons, anyway."   
  
"Fine with me," said James, equally muffled. "I wasn't in the mood to pay up."   
  
It took about fifteen minutes for both of them to return to their normal states. Well...the term "normal" used loosely in the general sense, but it was normal for James and Sirius.   
  
"Hey, want to see if I can hit McGonagall's glasses with this Brussels sprout?" Sirius asked eagerly.   
  
"Yeah! Let's see if you can break them!"   
  
Sirius lined up and took careful aim, when a cloud of owls interrupted his concentration. One of them actually dropped a letter in front of him. "Hmm. Wonder who sent me a letter. I bet it's a Howler from Amelia."   
  
James groaned. "No more bets!"   
  
Sirius laughed and tore open the letter, looking relieved that Amelia's shrill voice didn't resound through the Great Hall. However, as he read the letter, the smile faded from his face. He clutched the edges tighter and tighter as tears filled his eyes, finally ripping it in half and running out of the room.   
  
Remus picked up the ragged-edged letter and scanned it. When he finished, he set it down and ran his fingers through his hair distractedly. "Oh, man. I can't believe it."   
  
"What happened?" asked Lily, a terrible sinking feeling starting in her stomach.   
  
In response, Remus read the letter aloud. "'Dear Mr. Black, It is with deepest regret that we must inform you of this. Last night, Lord Voldemort arrived at your home accompanied by several of his followers. He and the Death Eaters Disapparated before Ministry officials had a chance to intervene. Your father, mother, and sister have been pronounced dead. Sincerely, Cyril A. Pillory.'"   
  
James stood up and walked out of the Hall after mumbling, "I've gotta go talk to him."   
  
Peter and Remus appeared to not quite know what to do with themselves. They sat in silence for awhile, blinking and trying to absorb the information fully. Eventually, Remus stood up, shaking his head. "Full moon tonight. I'd better go."   
  
When he left, only Peter and Lily remained. Lily's vision was blurring with tears, though she couldn't bear the thought of crying in front of Peter. He reached across the table and took her hand comfortingly. She gulped back tears and stared at him with as much defiance as the curse would allow. His face was the picture of grief as he whispered to her, "You know why."  
  
And Peter left, leaving Lily in trembling rage. _


	44. Contemplations

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_(A/N): I haven't done a disclaimer in a LONG time, so here's an overdue one:  
  
  
Disclaimer: I own Chrissy, Chantel, Professor Lollio, Juno, Eurydice, Amelia, Mr. Potter (he DID exist, but not entirely as I portrayed him), Mrs. Black, (same as with Mr. Potter), and several other little quirks of the tale. :O)  
  
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 44_

  
   
  
James walked as though he was in a trance, wondering why Voldemort would have ever wanted to kill Amelia and her parents. What use would it be? They were from an age-old wizarding family, so it couldn't have been the usual reason: that Voldemort just liked killing muggles, to have the pleasure of watching them die. There was no reason that possibly occured to James as to what fault Voldemort could have found with the Blacks. Amelia had been really close to Lily...could that have had anything to do with it?   
  
"Chartreuse," James muttered distractedly to the Fat Lady. She swung open, and he walked through the portrait hole and up the stairs. He knocked on the dormitory door. "Sirius?" He could hear a sound coming from inside, one that sounded like crying. "Sirius, open the door." He rattled the knob, but it was locked. He squinted, trying to remember the right charm as he took out his wand. "Er...Talamora." The door didn't move. "Alamora?" Nothing.  "Alhomora? Oh, yes...Alohomora." The door opened, thankfully, and James walked in.   
  
"You know, there's a reason why people lock doors!" Sirius wasn't sitting on his bed, as James had thought, but on the window ledge.   
  
"Sirius! Get down from there!"   
  
"Which way?" his friend said in a low, bitter voice. "I can climb down into the room, stick around and wait everything out, or I could just...lean forward and let go." He laughed with a nervous sort of realization. "It's really not that hard. I mean, what else is there?"  
  
"God, Sirius. You know what I mean, come back into the room."  
  
"But why? What IS there for me?" Sirius hesitantly picked up one of his hands and put it on the side of the windowpane, with his back to James. "It's really incredible, that one person can get so much just taken away like that. Who told Voldemort that he could..." He stopped, his voice choked by tears, but kept talking with more confidence after a slight pause. "I dunno. Reckon I'm jinxed? Better get away fast, James, or you'll be going down next." He had a kind of half-smile on his face, as though he really thought he was jinxed.  
  
James, however, had no traces of a smile on his face. "Okay, this isn't funny anymore.  Get down from there!" He crossed the room and grabbed Sirius's wrist, only to be shaken off quickly.   
  
"You know, I don't think you're ever going to learn. When I came up here, I locked the door. That usually means that I want to be left alone, but you didn't get it. So let me spell it out for you. Leave. Me. Alone." Sirius put his other hand on the other side of the window.   
  
James started backing up to the door. "Look, I under-"  
  
"Don't say you understand, just leave. All right?"   
  
"Why don't you want to talk to anyone?"   
  
"Why? Why do you think? Hmm, let's see!" Sirius's voice filled with tears rapidly. "My father? Dead, killed by Voldemort. My mother? Dead, killed by Voldemort. My sister?  Dead, killed by Voldemort because she knew something. And the one time, the one time that I thought things were going well with someone, that girl, who HAPPENED to be Voldemort's daughter, was suddenly killed by someone working for Voldemort. What would you want to do   
if the four most important people in your life were gone? Put a smile on your face, keep on going like nothing was wrong? Or...what's the quickest way out, the quickest escape from here, James?"   
  
"Okay, I'm not leaving now, not after that."   
  
"Is it going to make any difference? Do you really think that you being here is going to stop me?"   
  
James sat down on his bed and crossed his arms. "Yes."   
  
"You are being such an idiot! Why won't you just let me be?"   
  
"Because I've known you ever since we were a month old, Sirius. We're like brothers, and I don't think you really understand what it would do to me, to Lily, to Remus, to Peter, to anyone...if you jumped out of that window. You must've figured it out by now that the only reason this happened was that Amelia was really close with Lily, right? You-know-who is always trying to get at Lily, any way he can. Listen to me. If you kill yourself over this, Lily's never going to forgive herself." James stood up and walked out. Before closing the door, he said, "Think about that. Think about how awful you feel...and think about everyone you know feeling that awful if you went through with this."   
  
James walked out and closed the door behind him. He had gone halfway down the stairs when something inside him said, "I just left Sirius sitting on a window ledge, about to jump out.  _What am I thinking?!?!?" He turned around, ran back to the room, and tore the door open, only to find Sirius closing the curtains.   
  
"How did I know you'd be back?" The icy winter sunlight painted white-and-grey splashes of pain across Sirius's face. "You can't keep in your own business, can you? But then, if you could keep in your own business, you wouldn't have stopped me from jumping out that window, so I shouldn't complain. Or should I?" He questioned bitterly.   
  
  
  
  
The fireplace crackled merrily as fragments of sparks and embers spurted in all directions.  The proud beat of the ancient clock could be heard, gonging and ringing as time neared midnight.   
  
Disturbed and upset, Lily cradled a fluffy blanket with her left hand, and clutched a pillow securely in the other. Her hair lay limply on her shoulders as she softly descended the staircase.   
  
She neared the maroon couch longingly, as if praying she would be able to get some sleep.  Her plans were interrupted as a whisper reached her sleepy ears, "Couldn't sleep? Me neither."_

  
  
  
  



	45. Aftermath

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 45_

  
Lily jumped and looked across the room, in the direction from which the voice was coming. Sirius sat, curled up in an old blue armchair and staring into the fire. From the intensity of his gaze, it was apparent that he hadn't even looked at Lily when he had spoken to her. Lily wasn't sure what to say. After all, what DO you say to someone whose family is dead because of you?   
  
He spoke again. "Did James tell you what I did this afternoon?"   
  
"Er...no," she rasped, her throat dry.   
  
"Good." Sirius didn't take his eyes from the fire. "That's...I'm just really glad he didn't tell anyone."   
  
Lily remained silent. She didn't want to push the subject, but she was certain that she wouldn't get to sleep with Sirius in the room.   
  
"So, I told you that I did something. I bet you figured that it was something drastic. Why don't you want to know what it was?"   
  
Lily raised and lowered one shoulder in a shrug, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Dunno."   
  
Still looking at the fire, Sirius shook his head. "This doesn't check out, Lily. Usually, you're the first one to want to know what's going on. The first one to rush into something, even if it's dangerous. What's stopping you now? Are you trying to spare my feelings, is that it?"   
  
"I..." It was obvious, Sirius was asking her to tell the truth and to abandon tact. "I guess I do want to know what happened."   
  
"Now, that's more like you. Please don't change just because something horrible happened. That just makes it worse, if everyone changes and walks on eggshells around me. It just changes more things than have already changed." He took a deep breath. "Would you believe that I was about to jump out of the dormitory window this afternoon?"   
  
Lily's jaw dropped open. "What?"   
  
"You heard me. I was about to jump out of the dormitory window. Do you know why I didn't? And don't tell me you don't want to know."   
  
"Why didn't you?"   
  
"Because James talked me out of it. I couldn't sleep because I was wondering whether or not he did me a favor. What do you think? He said that you'd feel awful if I went through with it."   
  
"Well, I guess he was right." Lily was still shocked.   
  
"Amelia...Voldemort went after her because she hung around with you, didn't he?"   
  
"He was always going after me, and she just got too close, I guess. He missed me and hit her." She hoped that her words didn't sound too cold.   
A tear ran unchecked down Sirius's cheek, tinted gold in the firelight. "Right." His voice was full of bitterness. "But that isn't all, is it?"   
  
The stupid curse! "What do you mean?"   
  
"Why would he go after my parents, too? Why didn't he kill me, too? There's a lot missing here! It doesn't check out!" Finally, he broke his eye contact with the fire and turned to look at Lily. His eyes were like twin caverns set into his face, empty and mirthless. "I just wish I knew what was going on." There was an urgent hunger in his voice, something that was pushing Lily to say something, anything that would lead him to know the real reason why Amelia and his parents had been killed.   
  
Lily took a step backwards and started towards the girl's dormitory steps. "I do, too," she whispered, leaving Sirius alone as she ran into her bed and lay there, shivering.   
  
  
  
  
  
"Lily? C'mon, wake up. It's late, and we've got class!" It was the first day back, and Lily awoke to find Juno, fully dressed in her Hogwarts uniform, trying to persuade her out of bed.   
  
Lily opened her eyes. With a groan, she pulled herself out of the bed and looked around. "About time!" Juno said impatiently. "I already ate breakfast!"   
  
"Go ahead, I'll catch up."   
  
"All right. You're kind of lazy, Lil." She swept out of the room and down the stairs.   
  
Lily slowly dressed and picked up her schoolbooks. It was Monday, so the first class was Transfiguration. Well, at least it wasn't too far from the common room to the Great Hall to the Transfiguration room. She quickened her pace walking down the corridor and sat down at the Gryffindor table. Only a few people were there, and not many people who she knew very well. She grabbed two slices of toast, stuffed a fried egg and some breakfast sausage between them, and made her way to Transfiguration, swallowing the last bite as she arrived.   
  
Professor McGonagall shot a glance her way. "You're late, Miss Evans. Five points from Gryffindor, one for each minute."   
  
Lily nodded. "Sorry, Professor." She took her seat and opened her book. After taking lots of complicated notes, McGonagall paired everyone up and handed each pair a candlestick that they had to turn into a quill. Despite the fact that it sounded so simple, it was actually a complex spell. Lily was lucky, she got paired with James. James was always great at Transfiguration, and everyone knew it.   
  
She looked around. There was Remus, Peter, Juno, James, and..."Where's Sirius?" she whispered.   
  
"He went up to the Hospital Wing this morning. He wasn't feeling good, and I can't blame him." James shook his head. "Man. I just can't believe it." He pointed his wand at the candlestick, said the spell, and succeeded only in making one end of the candlestick a little flatter than the other. He frowned.   
  
"Me neither." Lily consulted the Transfiguration book, then tried her hand at the spell. The wick of the candlestick fell off, but she wasn't sure if that was the fault of the spell or just gravity. "Hmm...not that I expected to do much better."   
  
"I mean, what's Sirius going to do? He isn't going to go back to his house, is he? Where's he going to stay?" He was obviously stuck on the subject.   
  
"I don't know, James. What I do know is that right now, your concentration is so far away that you can't even perform in your best subject. Please don't think I'm being insensitive, but can't this wait until later?"   
  
James gaped. "Is turning this stupid candlestick into a quill more important to you than Sirius?"   
  
Immediately, Lily regretted her choice of words. "No, wait, I-"  
  
"That's what it sounds like to me." He pointed his wand angrily at the candlestick and said the spell again, but this time through gritted teeth. Of course, the spell sounded wrong, so instead of turning into a quill, the candlestick broke into two pieces that crawled off in opposite directions. James threw down his wand with a sound of frustration. "Why don't you think about something other than school for a while?"   
  
"Is there a problem, Potter?" McGonagall, holding the two candlestick halves in one hand, was standing over Lily and James, one foot tapping impatiently.   
  
"No, Professor. We were just having some trouble with transfiguring the candlestick." James picked his wand back up hurriedly.   
  
McGonagall deposited the broken candle in front of James. "It would probably help if you concentrated a little harder." With that, she walked away.   
  
Lily chose this time to get a word in. "I didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't care. I do care, I really do. It's just...I don't think we should change any more than things have already been changed." Sirius had been right about that, she thought.   
  
"I guess you're right," he admitted grudgingly. "But there are things that we've got to think about because they changed. Let's get on with this stupid candle...reparo." The halves melded together, but the wick didn't re-attatch itself.   
  
Lily smiled a little. "I guess I didn't make that fall off, then."   
  
"I guess not. Okay, let's say the spell at the same time. 1...2...3..."  
  
"Fracto Colbinus!" They both said. For a moment, the candle remained as it was. Then, with a small pop, it was replaced by a black quill.   
  
Lily looked up, smiling at James. "Good idea."   
  
"Yeah. At least it worked."


	46. Ice

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 46_

  
  
A/N: I'm sooo sorry that it's taken me so long to get this out! First of all, I've been busy beyond mortal comprehension (lol), and second of all, I admit to writer's block for just about the first time in   
this series. Total idea blockage happening. But I'm back and, hopefully, better than ever! All right...*rubs her hands together evilly* Let's get cracking, shall we?  
  
  


   
  
"Where did I put that music box?" Lily stormed around the girls' dormitory, upturning everything in her path. It was the day that the Hogwarts students were leaving for the summer holidays, and she had suddenly realized that her music box was missing. "Maybe it's under the bed...maybe someone broke it! What if someone just swept it up? Maybe someone stole it! Maybe it fell out the window!"   
  
"Or maybe," Juno said from the doorway, "You carelessly left it on your bedside table and I picked it up to get it to you and rushed down to the entrance hall only to be told by Remus and James that you were up here looking for it." After catching her breath, Juno pressed the palm-sized music box into Lily's hand and walked back downstairs.   
  
Lily sat down on her bed and examined the music box. It was the same pale yellow, squat little article with the same white-gold hinges and piping along the edges. With slightly trembling fingers, she undid the tarnished clasp. The tinny, staccato melody played just as it always had, and the mirrored ice stage rose with comforting familiarity, but - "Oh!" Lily realized with a start that the little glass skater was missing.   
  
She snapped the lid shut and pocketed the music box, the song cut off all too suddenly.  Her eyes wide, she ran down the steps and caught up with Juno. "Juno! Juno, did you notice that anything dropped when you were carrying this up to me?"   
  
"No-ooo, why?"   
  
"Well, did you take it out?"  
  
"Take what out?"   
  
"The skater! There's always been this little figurine in there of a skater, and she skates around to the music, it must be a magnet or something..."  
  
"I have no idea what you're talking about. The first time I even took notice of that music box is when you left it up there. Do you need some help with finding it?"   
  
"It's just that I've had this thing forever, and my mum and dad got it for me when I was a baby, and..." Lily was on the verge of tears as her voice cracked.   
  
Juno grabbed Lily's wrists and held them down, tilting her face downward and looking up into Lily's eyes. "Okay, calm down. That's the first thing. Take a deep breath and relax.  This isn't as big a deal as you think. We'll retrace my steps and find it."   
  
Lily took a few deep breaths and cleared her throat of the web of tears before nodding and shaking her wrists free. "Okay."   
  
They walked gingerly back up the stairs, scouring every step, then made an intricate search of the dormitory. After they didn't find it even there, Lily led Juno in thundering down the stairs and looking in every nook and cranny in the common room. Every second that they didn't find the little glass girl, the horrid feeling in the pit of Lily's stomach doubled and she grew more hysterical in her movements. When it got to the point that she knocked over a goblet of cranberry juice in the Great Hall, Juno gently suggested that Lily board the Hogwarts Express while Juno finished the search.   
  
Lily nodded dazedly and walked out to the train. Juno would find it...Juno would find it.  
  
"Prongs, I've got no idea how Hufflepuff won the Cup. I mean, they're just...Hufflepuff!" Remus was saying.   
  
"Yeah, I mean, the only reason they got to the final at all is that they beat Slytherin by so much. They got completely slaughtered by Ravenclaw!" Peter put in.  
  
"I know, I know." James sounded - and looked - somewhere between miserable and shocked.    
"It's that stupid new Seeker they got! They were just using a reserve those first two games, but then they took out the big guns...Irving." Irving MacDonald was the legendary Hufflepuff Seeker. He was the most muscular student in his year, and, luckily for Gryffindor, he had just graduated.   
  
Lily sat down and tried to shift her focus. "Well, he won't be there next year. Don't worry, you'll definitely win."   
  
"Thank you for that vote of confidence, Milady," Remus said with an old-fashioned, chivalrous air. Lily stood up and curtseyed. It seemed as though, with Sirius rather out of commission, Remus had taken over as the 'class clown' of the bunch.   
  
"I guess so, but I've heard that the Slytherins are getting this new Seeker next year...some girl named Holly. She's supposed to be a bit of a steamroller, but come on -" James snorted in laughter. "I mean, Holly? How tough can she really be?"   
  
All three boys laughed, but Lily looked at James with her eyebrows sky-high. "James, do you remember when I slapped you when I was a first year?" She blushed a little at bringing back that memory.   
  
"Hard to forget," James said, rubbing his cheek. "I've still got a welt here."   
  
"Oh, get stuffed...well, you asked me if I ever thought of being a Beater, right?"   
  
"I still think you should."   
  
"Thanks, but can you imagine what the rest of the school would think if they heard about this tough new Gryffindor beater...named Lily?"   
  
Peter, James, and Remus seemed to be letting that sink in. Then, just as Lily was fully concentrated on the conversation and the victorious smile started to curl up her face, Juno walked in. The feeling that there was a stone in her stomach returned as she stood up and looked for the tiny glass head poking out of Juno's hand or pocket.   
  
"I'm sorry, Lily. I couldn't find it anywhere." And she really did sound sorry, but that didn't make Lily feel any better.   
  
"Find what?" James asked.   
  
"My-my music box," Lily said tearfully, fumbling it out of her pocket and opening it to show James. "See, there sh-should be a glass ice skater there, but it's gone!"   
  
"What's the big deal? You can just buy another one..." Remus shrank back under the fierce glares of Lily and Juno. "...right?"   
  
"NO! I can't just buy another one! My mum and dad bought it for me when I was a baby!" She sat down and stared down at the vacant mirror, watching her reflection warp as a tear fell onto it. "I don't even think they make these anymore."   
  
James moved towards Lily and hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."   
  
Lily made a little impatient 'tsk' sound. "It's not your fault, so don't say you're sorry."   
  
"Okay, then..." Quite at a loss for something to say, he moved back in the other direction, shrugging at the Cheshire-like Remus.   
  
Juno sat down next to Lily and snapped the music box shut. "It's not going to do you any good to sit around and cry about it. Anyway, we don't even know if it was in there when I first picked it up. It's probably just in the dormitory, so we'll find it. Don't worry."   
  
"I can't not worry! Have you ever lost something like this?"   
  
"No, but-"   
  
"It's just about the worst feeling in the world!"   
  
"There's worse."  
  
Everyone turned their heads as the new voice came from the doorway of the compartment. Sirius had been watching everything that was going on. "Trust me. There's worse."   
  
All of a sudden, Lily felt utterly ashamed of being so materialistic. She stuffed the music box into her pocket and didn't talk about it for the rest of the train ride.   
  
The journey back to King's Cross station was much more tense than usual. It was almost as though there was a fragile statue sitting in the far corner of the compartment, something that everyone kept glancing back at to see if it was okay, but didn't want to go near for fear of breaking it. Sirius didn't seem to notice everyone looking at him, though.   
  
During the quiet periods when Remus wasn't making some weak attempts at joking, Peter wasn't complaining, and James wasn't trying to make conversation, Lily wondered about exactly how the music box worked. There had never been any evidence of a magnet, and the ice skate had always looked wafer-thin and totally transparent. How DID that skater glide around the mirror? And where HAD that music always come from? It was too small to really contain the usual gears, and Lily suddenly realized that she had never had to wind it up. It just kept playing the music at one steady tempo, whenever the lid was opened. At first, Lily thought it may have been magic, but she immediately banished that idea from her mind. Her parents were both Muggles, how could they have gotten their hands on a magical music box?  
  
All suspicions and thoughts vanished like smoke in the wind when the Hogwarts Express lurched to a halt. Everyone stood up, said their good-byes, and walked out to retrieve their luggage. Lily took down her trunk and wheeled it over to where Mr. Potter was standing.   
  
Mr. Potter was wearing some fairly normal clothes, though James whispered to Lily that he didn't see the sense in the tie-dyed shirt and love beads. "Hey, you two! How was your term?"  
  
"Pretty good, Dad."  
  
"That's good..." He scanned the crowd as though looking for someone. "Now, where's Sirius?"   
  
"Why?"   
  
"Didn't they tell you? He'll be staying with us this summer until the Ministry can contact his great-aunt and uncle. They take a lot of holidays...he might be staying with us the whole summer."   
  
James raised his eyebrows at Lily, as though questioning what she thought of that. Lily shrugged. Maybe Sirius would get better over the summer, just hanging out with James. But, Lily's intuition reminded her, this wasn't like a disease, something that Sirius would just get over. Time might heal all wounds, but it would be incredible if time was a good enough doctor to heal this one.   
  
"Hi, Mr. Potter. I'm ready." Sirius had showed up, dragging a trunk behind him impassively.   
  
"Oh, good." Mr. Potter took the trunk gingerly from Sirius and smiled supportively. Lily supposed that, if his hands hadn't been full with the trunk, he would have given Sirius the thumbs-up.   
  
James gave Sirius an identical smile, and it was only then that Lily realized how much like his father James really looked. "This summer's going to be great."   
  
"Sure," Sirius said. It didn't sound like he really believed himself, though.


	47. Never Run the Same Way Twice

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_A/N: Ah...this summer's going to be wonderful. Fasten your seatbelts, everyone, and hang on tight to reality!   
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 47_

  
  
  


_Lily glided across the mirrored ice, her delicate skates never leaving a single mark. A familiar melody rang in her ears, slowly dropping into a sinister, minor key. She tried to get down out of the pirouetting position, but she was completely stuck. It was almost as though she had been cast there, with her eyes being the only things that she could move. Her mouth seemed to be sealed shut, and her hands were stiff at her sides. She started to cry diamond teardrops of frustration, then looked down at herself and realized that she was completely made out of glass. A brown-haired, hazel-eyed two-year-old boy who she had never seen before walked up to her, stepping heavily but easily on the ice, and pushed her over with all of his might. From the outside, she screamed and watched her glass self shatter, the pieces skittering off into the endless void on the edges of the pond, and the little boy was laughing, laughing, laughing...  
  
She woke with a start. She wasn't on a mirrored ice pond, but in the guest room at the Potters' house. She wasn't made of glass, but flesh and blood. The tears on her pillow weren't diamonds, they were real water. After a few deep breaths, Lily calmed down and got up out of the bed. It was probably about five-thirty in the morning, since the sun was just peeking over the horizon and the sky was a very dark blue, but not quite the black of midnight. She dressed in normal Muggle clothes and went down the elaborate staircase to the kitchen.   
  
Lily reached down to open the cupboard where she remembered the cereal being, but suddenly realized that something was wrong. The all-so-familiar sensation of the black bracelet sliding down her wrist was gone, and so was the bracelet!   
  
She spun around and ran back up the stairs, checking for the contrast of the delicate black chain against the marble steps. But it was just the clean white, white, white, all the way up. The bracelet was nowhere to be found in the folds of her blankets, either. Two of her things disappearing without a trace...what was going on?   
  
  
  
  
  
Mr. Potter came down the staircase and yawned. "Morning, Lily." There was no response, so he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stared hard at Lily. "Lily? What exactly are you doing?"   
  
The couch cushions were strewn about the living room, the recliner was set to the most horizontal position, and the upper half of Lily's body was stuck underneath it, rooting around for something. "__Mmf__! Mm lrkng frr m'brrslit!"   
  
"You're lrking for your what?"   
  
Lily slid herself out from underneath the old recliner, dust bunnies adorning her hair and making her look much older than she was. "My bracelet. You know, the black one I've worn for about two years now. It's just gone!"   
  
"Holy cats, what else are you going to lose, your head?" He snickered at his own feeble attempt at a joke.   
  
"Tell me about it. I've just got no idea where that glass..." Lily's voice trailed off as she saw Sirius coming down the stairs. Again, she felt that shame of complaining when she had only lost a material possession, and he had lost his family. "Well, I guess it's not that big a deal anyway."   
  
"All righty then." Mr. Potter shrugged, then turned to Sirius, grinning. "Hey! How about waffles? James can tell you how great my waffles are...if he wasn't too lazy to wake up. Oh, __Jaaaamesy!" He started up the stairs, calling out in a high falsetto.   
  
Lily laughed nervously and tried to make some conversation with the zombie-like Sirius. "Wouldn't he be great paired with Professor Lollio?"   
  
"Yeah. She'd probably make that match herself, though." He opened a cupboard and took out some cereal.   
  
"Probably." Lily watched warily as he poured the cereal into a bowl, covered it with milk, and started eating. She glanced at the stairs, wishing that James would just wake up already and come down. As she waited, Lily wished that Amelia had never figured it out that Peter was working for Voldemort. If not for that night, Sirius would have probably been at home, showing Amelia how to squirt milk out of her nose voluntarily, not sitting at the Potters' breakfast table and eating cereal. His former gusto for life seemed to have vanished completely.   
  
Luckily, it was about that time that James came staggering downstairs with his hair sticking up at about twenty different angles. It looked as though he was still sleeping; when he finally got to the bottom step, he sat down and started snoring again.   
  
Mr. Potter came whistling along cheerily after him. "He's awake now! Say good morning, James."   
  
The only response was a sound that was somewhere between a cough and a snore.   
  
"Good enough! Well, how about I make those waffles now?"   
  
  
  
  
The next two mornings went something like that, except for two things. First, Sirius got marginally more happy every day, and James a bit more awake. Of course, he still fell asleep on the bottom step, but that started to be like a morning comedy routine, with Mr. Potter dragging him to the breakfast table and insisting that they all eat at least five waffles. Lily still didn't find her bracelet.   
  
On the third morning, however, a large brown Ministry of Magic owl was tapping officiously on the Potters' window. When Lily went over and undid it, the tawny creature flapped in and deposited a letter in front of Sirius. Then, as she was watching him open the letter, a large black owl with ashes on its feathers flew in and dropped a small package at her feet. She picked it up as the familiar owl flew away.   
  
Sirius was reading the letter silently, but with a tiny flame of excitement growing in his eyes. James, who was now quite awake, tried to peer around to read the letter. "What? What's that?"   
  
"Nothing," Sirius said, folding the letter back into the envelope. "Nothing at all."   
  
"Sirius, the Ministry of Magic doesn't just send a letter to ask how your granny is. What's going on?"   
  
"You'll find out in -" he glanced back at the top of the letter "-about one working day."   
There was a teasing tone in Sirius's voice, and when he walked up the staircase into his room, James and Lily exchanged grins. Sirius was coming back, slowly but surely.   
  
"How about you, Lily? What's in that little package?" Mr. Potter gestured towards the little grey felt case, the kind used in jewelry stores.   
  
"I don't know. It's not my birthday...and there isn't any holiday, is there?" When the two Potters shook their heads, Lily shrugged and opened the case gingerly. "Oh! My bracelet!" She took it out and slid it onto her wrist. "But it's got a green locket on it instead of the charm! I wonder - oh, look at that." She stooped to pick up a note that had fallen out of the case and read it aloud. It had been written in a chilling, blood-red ink. _

_"'Dancing princess on the pond,_

_That cold pastime that you're so fond,_

_In a powder, crystal green,_

_Only what your eyes have seen._

_Diamond tears are cold as ice._

_Never run the same way twice,_

_Waiting, watching, just for you,_

_Debts will be paid before I'm through.'"   
  
  
_

"Weird sort of love poem," James put in. "I wouldn't give him a second thought if I were you..._hey!" He ducked to one side as Lily threw the now-vacant grey box at him.   
  
"It's not a love poem. It's...some kind of threat, I think."  
  
James crossed his arms over his chest. "Now you're just being melodramatic. You get your bracelet back with a rather nice poem, and you think someone's..."   
  
But his last words were cut off by Lily's shriek. She had taken off the bracelet, opened the locket, and a short rain of crystalline powder had fallen out. "It's her! It's the ice skater! From my music box! What happened? What did they do to her?"   
  
"Calm down, Lily!" Mr. Potter stayed true to his form of being rather 'out there' in normal time, but responsible and efficient in a panic. He walked around the table to Lily and pointed his wand at the small pile of dust. "Reparo," he muttered, and instantly, it rebuilt into the delicate ice princess.   
  
Lily picked it up with shaking hands. "Thank you."   
  
"Noo problem. How about you three try and figure out that riddle while I'm at work?" He moved towards the door and picked up his broomstick from the corner.   
  
"Work? During the summer holidays?"   
  
Mr. Potter sighed. "There are more and more emergencies. You-know-who..." He left it at that and went out the door.   
  
Lily looked from the note to the wide-open locket on the bracelet to the little glass girl in her hand. Who could have done this? Whoever it was stole both the bracelet and the skater, so it must have been someone she knew very well...perhaps Juno? Immediately, though, she felt disgusted with herself at suspecting her friend. How could she? Peter...  
  
"I'm going to go see what Sirius is doing up there." James interrupted her train of thought and got up from the table. "Maybe he'll play a quick game of Quidditch."   
  
Lily nodded. "I'll come up, too. I've got to put her back," she held up the skater.   
  
Right before they went up the stairs, both Lily and James glanced quickly back at the flour bin and smiled inwardly.   
  
  
  
  
  
"Sirius? Sirius, where are you?" James's calls resounded through the ornate hallway as he trudged back and forth, opening all doors. "This really isn't funny!"   
  
Lily walked into her room and sighted the patiently waiting music box. Reaching for it, she opened the lid and placed the girl on the mirrored ice. Two things suddenly occurred to her as she watched the beautiful dance: One, she never retraced the same path or spun the same way twice, and two, where there had always been two tiny emerald dots for the eyes, it was blank glass.   
  
"Lily?" James was standing in the doorway.   
  
"What?" She snatched up the skater and turned around, not meaning to hold the mirror towards James.   
  
"Have you seen -" There was a flash of light, as though a sunbeam was being reflected off of the mirror, and when Lily opened her eyes, James was gone.   
  
  
_


	48. Mirrored

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

**VITAL ANNOUNCEMENT FOR ALL THOSE READING THIS CHAPTER: YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND PARTS OF THIS IF YOU DO NOT READ THE REVISED CHAPTER 1, BECAUSE A PROLOGUE HAS BEEN ADDED.   
  
**

_A/N: I just love cliffhangers! Lalalalala, hey look at you, you're hanging...off of a cliff! Muahahahaha! *Ariana comes flying out of nowhere and grabs the keyboard from Clara* Get off! Stop scaring them! *The two engage in a rather exhilarating author's duel as the story unfolds*  
  
  
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 48_

   
  
  
"James?" Lily stared at the spot where James had stood only a moment before. "James, where are you? Are you and Sirius playing some kind of trick on me? You KNOW we're not supposed to use magic over the summer holidays!" There was no answer, only the ceaseless melody emanating from the little music box in her hand. She hurriedly set it down and, just before closing it, moved to put the glass skater back onto the ice. But then..."Oh my God! James!" She blinked, not quite believing what she saw. There, as though a motion picture of him was being played on the mirror, was James! He pounded on the glass with his fists and shouted, but no noise came. Lily's first reaction was pure astonishment that James was trapped in a mirror, then she started to laugh. Apparently, James could see her laughing, because he mouthed a rather rude word from his position inside the music box and started punching the glass again. "Oh, come on, James, you've got to admit that this is pretty funny." More rude words and pounding came from the mirror. Lily sobered up. "All right, all right...I'll try to get you out."   
  
She reached for her wand, but then checked herself, remembering that it was against the rules to do magic over the holidays. In sheer frustration, she placed the ice ballerina back inside the music box, closed the lid, and put it in her pocket. She ran through the upstairs hallway, calling for Sirius. "Sirius! Come here, you aren't going to believe this!" She sprinted down the back stairs, hoping to find him in the backyard. Sure enough, there was a sound coming from the red broom shed. Lily jogged over to it and knocked impatiently on the door. "Open up, Sirius! I've got to show you something!"   
  
"Can't it wait?" came the muffled reply.   
  
"This is kind of a serious situation!"   
  
The door creaked open, and Sirius stuck his head through. "If it's a serious situation, I'm the man to call. What's going on?"   
  
Lily suddenly realized how unbelievable this story was. "Erm...are you prepared to believe me? Whatever I tell you?" 

  
"Depends."   
  
"Well, okay. James is stuck in a mirror."   
  
Sirius rolled his eyes. "He would be, wouldn't he? Okay. What do you want to do about it?"   
  
"Um, get him out?"   
  
"Good plan. How?"   
  
"I don't know!" She reached into her pocket and opened the music box for Sirius to see. "Look! It's not exactly the standard Hogwarts curriculum to teach us how to get people out of mirrors! And besides, we can't use magic! The only person who could help us out is -"  
  
"Mr. Potter," they said at the same time.   
  
Sirius sighed and opened the door a little further. "Okay. I didn't want to show any of you until he got home, but seeing as this is kind of an emergency, here we go." He disappeared back into the broom shed.   
  
Lily imagined he was retrieving some kind of super-fast broomstick. She could feel her stomach heaving already. But she was relieved to see that it wasn't a broomstick...until she realized what it really was.   
  
Sirius emerged from the shed pulling along behind him the largest motorcycle Lily had ever seen. It was jet-black, with a helmet of the same color dangling from the handlebars, and it looked every bit like a normal Muggle motorbike.   
  
"Where...what...I mean, how...?"   
  
He grinned proudly at Lily's reaction, maybe for the first time in weeks. "I inherited it. Seems that my...that my dad kept trying to figure this out, but he never put it together all the way. He just got ahold of these Muggle schematics, but then he scribbled something on the back..." Sirius held out a faded piece of blueprint with several amateur instructions and diagrams on it.   
  
"What are those for?" Lily turned her head to read them, but Sirius whisked them away before she got a chance.   
  
"It's a surprise...I hope it works." Still grinning from ear to ear, he mounted the motorcycle and tossed Lily the helmet.   
  
She tossed it right back at him. "No. I am _not getting onto a motorcycle. Do you know how dangerous those things are?"   
  
"Oh, come on, live a little!"  
  
"The last time I heard anyone say that..." Lily shook her head. "Besides, if anyone's wearing the helmet, you are."   
  
"My head's too thick to crack." He stood up, physically placed Lily on the motorcycle, and jammed the helmet onto her head. As he climbed back on and kicked it into gear, he turned around and said three very important words. "Hold on tight."   
  
Suddenly, icy fear hit Lily. "Sirius?" she shouted above the motorcycle's roar. "How many times have you done this before?"   
  
_

"Um...none."   
  


"WHAT?" It was too late. Sirius had already taken off and was going down the street with all speed. "_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Lily screamed.   
  
"WHOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Sirius whooped at the top of his lungs. "ISN'T THIS GREAT?"   
  
"NO!" They went down the street for about five more minutes, and Lily was just starting to wonder what the extra plans were when Sirius said, "ah-ha!" and jerked the handlebars to the left. They were screaming along a forest path, branches thwacking against the helmet's smooth dome and catching in Lily's hair. She shrieked and ducked down, obeying the instructions to 'hold on tight' as loyally as she could.   
  
Sirius must have noticed, too, because he shouted back at her in a breathless tone, "Lily, you're kind of paralyzing my diaphragm! Wouldja mind?" Though the only response was a scream, the answer was quite obviously 'yes.' He took as deep a breath as he could, then flipped a few switches and pushed some buttons. "Here we go!"   
  
"WHERE? WHERE ARE WE GOING?"   
  
Lily didn't hear him say "Up," because she was too busy controlling her sudden nausea. They were indeed going up. The trees grew smaller and smaller until they were only a square of green fabric far, far below them. The sound of the engine quieted to a mere hum, and Sirius sat back a little. "Wow. Was that incredible or what?"   
  
"Ohhhh," Lily moaned. "I think I'm going to be sick." She didn't stop squeezing Sirius's torso, though.   
  
"Well, you can't be that sick, because you've got the strength of a circus freak. Could you get off?"   
  
"I don't think I mentioned my uncanny fear of heights and flying and such?"   
  
Sirius gave a little exasperated sigh. "I don't think you did."   
  
"Well, you certainly could have warned me!"   
  
"Well, you certainly could have mentioned that you get airsick!"   
  
"You didn't exactly have to force me onto this thing!"   
  
"And you didn't exactly have to come!"   
  
"You know something, Sirius Black? You've got some kind of -"  
  
"Some kind of what?"   
  
"Nerve! I told you I didn't want to go on a motorcycle, and here we are probably miles above the ground, and knowing your clumsiness and my luck, we're going to crash."  
  
"I'd agree with you. Except for one thing."   
  
"And what's that?"   
  
Sirius climbed down off of the motorcycle and gestured to the forest floor beneath them. "I landed this thing while you were reaming me out."   
  
_

"Oh." She looked around and took Sirius's outstretched hand to get down. "Thanks."   
  
"Mr. Potter said something about this area. Maybe he's somewhere around here." Sirius walked to the edge of the forest and started for the street. "Come on, let's ask around."   
  
Lily nodded and headed straight for the most familiar-looking building she knew: the police station.   
  
"Wait! Lily, I don't think we should...oops, sorry, ma'am, I didn't see your foot there...Lily, come back! They're not going to know what you're talking about!"   
  
His calls were to no avail on the sunny street, because Lily had already walked into the building. She walked up to the counter and spoke to the smiling policeman. "Hello. I'm looking for a man by the name of...erm...well, his last name's Potter." It suddenly hit her that she didn't know Mr. Potter's first name.   
  
The Muggle policeman took out a large book and thumbed through the pages until he found what he was looking for. "I've got about twenty Potters in here. Do you know what street he's on?"   
  
"Well, actually, he doesn't live here, he just might be working here...is there any chance that you could send some people to look for him? I really, really need to find him."   
  
He sighed. "Look, Miss. If he doesn't live here and he doesn't work in any of these shops, I can't do anything to help you."   
  
"But you've got to! We have to find him!" She reached into her pocket and, quite throwing caution to the wind, shoved the music box into his face. "Look! His son is in here!"   
  
The police officer now looked extremely frightened. "What?"   
  
"His son! James! My friend is stuck inside the mmmghfmghfmff!" Sirius had arrived and clapped a hand over Lily's mouth.   
  
"Oh, Suzie, I can't believe you just ran away like that! Mum was so frantic, we couldn't find you anywhere!" While Lily tried to bite his hand, Sirius spoke very apologetically to the policeman. "She's sick, you see. Just coming back from the fizzykiatrist's."   
  
"The what?"   
  
"You know, the Muggle head doctor. Fizzykiatrists, you know what I mean!"   
  
"You're crazier than your sister! And another thing, you two don't look anything alike!"   
  
"Well, we wouldn't, would we? She's Muggle-born, I'm not."   
  
"WHAT?" The policeman pressed a green button and held it down, utter confusion on his face. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, but we're going to get this straightened out once and for all!"   
  
  
  
Ten minutes later, Sirius sat in the corner of the jail cell, smiling sardonically at Lily. "Happy now, Miss _'My friend is stuck in this music box, Mr. Muggle policeman?'"   
  
"Hey, you weren't exactly Security Boy out there, spouting about fizzykiatrists and Muggle-borns. By the way, it's 'psychiatrist.' SIE! KIE! UH! TRIST!" She sat down angrily and turned to Sirius with slitted green eyes. "And THEN, as if it wasn't enough that we were stuck in jail, you had to blow our ONE phone call by getting all excited over the 'neat Muggle gizmo' and punching in whatever number you liked! Man, are you lucky that policeman spoke Swahili, or we could've had a major crisis on our hands!"   
  
"Hey, I'll bet that I was one number off from my fifth cousin! She's a Squib, so she's got a refrigerator!"   
  
"Why would that help us?"   
  
"So we could call her on it!"   
  
Lily leapt up and punched the wall instead of Sirius. "No, you DINGBAT! It's a telephone! Between fizzykiatrists and refrigerators, I'm surprised you and I aren't splatted against the pavement somewhere on this street, and that motorcycle, too!"   
  
"Would you just lay off the motorcycle?" Sirius was on his feet now, and he really looked angry and a little hurt. "Just cut me a break, okay?"   
  
"Okay, whatever." Lily sat down again and took out the music box. "You know, we're pretty lucky they let me keep this."   
  
"Incredibly lucky. If they hadn't, we'd have to call in a bunch of Obliviators to make them think they'd never seen James trapped in there." Sirius looked over at it and then craned his neck to get a closer look. "Wait a minute...did your parents really buy that for you?"   
  
"Of course! One of my first memories is hearing this song. Why do you ask?"   
  
"Well, it just seems kind of odd that your Muggle parents got ahold of a music box that happens to be exactly the same as one that Amelia had when she was a baby."   
  
Lily looked up quickly. "What?"   
  
"I remember, when Amelia was a baby, my mum and dad took me shopping on this street, and there was this old store at the end of it called Mifflebey's. It was already closed, but I remember that there was a little yellow music box with an ice skater inside it, and it was lying right outside on the grass. I ran off, picked it up, and I remember the look on Amelia's little face when I put it into her crib..." He broke off awkwardly and went back to his perch in the corner of the cell. After a moment of very pregnant silence, he spoke again. "But that's not the point. Mifflebey's was a wizarding shop, and they didn't make those anywhere else. They shut down a long time ago. It's just a house now, and Perry Mifflebey lives there. He's the original owner's son."  
  
"What's that got to do with me and this music box?"   
  
"Well...Mr. Mifflebey was into some pretty heavy Dark Arts stuff. Very anti-Muggle, so he didn't want to have his shop at the end of a Muggle street. Er, this is just a legend, so you might want to take it with a grain of salt. Supposedly, his wife begged and pleaded with him, and he gave in. Lots and lots of wizards came in there, but every once in a long while, a pregnant Muggle woman would come in there, and Mr. Mifflebey would turn them away, saying that the store was just closing or under repairs or something like that. Now, I don't really remember why, but there was one of those Muggle women who came in and bought something. One of those," he pointed to the music box in Lily's hands. "And word of it leaked out that a Muggle had done business with Mifflebey. Of course, those Slytherin blokes weren't too thrilled to hear that, so they got stupid about it and started a bunch of boycots and slandered Mifflebey all over the place. 'Course, he couldn't exactly keep the store open for long after that. Mifflebey didn't even stick around to raise Perry...just ran off and was never seen again."   
  
"What about Mrs. Mifflebey?"   
  
"I dunno, probably died of a broken heart or some silly romantic rubbish like that. It's just a story, though. Don't take it too much to heart."   
  
But Lily was now looking at the music box with more interest. She turned it over and saw something written on the bottom she had never seen before: "Mifflebey's Gifts for All Occasions."_


	49. Snap

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

  
_A/N: SO. Moving in on 50. We're not quite there yet, but it is imminent. Hanging in the air with every word....*Clara takes a look over at Ariana, notices the look on her face, and moves away from the keyboard as quickly as she can.* After you, of course.   
  
I know you were looking forward to me having a really unique and WOW resolution up my sleeve, but *holds out her t-shirted arms* Nothin' here. Hopefully, this is going to come out well. Sit back and enjoy the ride! *Kicks the flying motorcycle into gear*  
  
  
  
_

**Lily__**

_Chapter 49_

   
  
  
Lily nearly dropped the music box in surprise. "Sirius," she whispered. "How could my mum have gotten this at Mifflebey's?"   
  
"I dunno. It's just a legend, Lily! I shouldn't have ever told you."   
  
"Well, d'you think I could...talk to Perry Mifflebey? If he's still around?" Lily's eyes were bright and eager, though she couldn't think why. It was a clue, a lead, and that was all that mattered.   
  
Sirius smirked. "Maybe you should've thought about that before telling that Muggle out there that James was trapped in the music box..." he shook his head. "I still can't believe you did that. Anyway, Perry's kind of gone odd over the years. They say he just stays in that house down there at the end of the street, staring at himself in a room full of mirrors. Can we say 'Self-absorbed?' Supposedly, this guy would put that Lockhart prat to shame. He only comes out to visit old wizarding villages. You know, Trissle, Hogsmeade, Pachile, he visits all the best pubs."   
  
Sirius was still talking, Lily knew, but the sound was drowned out by everything falling into place in her mind. If her mother had been that Muggle woman who put the Mifflebeys out of business, and Perry had grown up an orphan, he'd be out for revenge. The chances were slim, but that man who had been at the Three Broomsticks...the one with hawk like grey eyes who had been staring at her...what if that was Perry Mifflebey? What if he had been stalking her without her knowing it? She was suddenly almost happy to be inside the jail cell. If someone who wanted her dead was just up the street, staring and muttering to himself inside a completely mirrored room, she didn't want to be anywhere near it.   
  
Lily was jerked out of her trance by a particularly loud call. "_Yoo-hoo! Oh, yoo-hoo!"  Sirius was standing at the door of the cell, waving through the bars. "Excuse me, but you with the keys, could you get us out of here? We need to find our friend's father. He has a...um...a Quidditch game, and -"   
  
The guard started backing away slowly, obviously having been warned about the crazy new prisoners, and Sirius broke off with an exasperated sigh. "What is wrong with these people?  I mean, no offense to Muggles and all, but they really need to get a clue!"   
  
As Sirius sat down again, Lily flipped the music box latch open and looked down at the mirror. There was James, looking extremely bored and utterly defeated. He was leaning against the side of the music box, arms crossed over his chest and eyes closed, shaking his head slowly from side to side. The entrance of light into the mirror seemed to get his attention, because he opened his eyes and faced Lily. He pressed his nose up against the mirror and smiled sardonically, obviously trying to lighten the mood somewhat. She gave a little half-smile at his antics, which continued for a good minute and a half. Then, suddenly, James looked from side to side with a worried look on his face and mouthed something to Lily.   
  
"Sirius, come here. What's James saying?" Sirius looked over Lily's shoulder, trying to decipher the increasingly exaggerated syllables on James's lips.   
  
"Liz...Is? Maybe that's the first word. Is some bunny? Oh, is somebody. Is somebody drumming? Is somebody humming? Is somebody..." Then, Sirius stopped in astonishment as a hand reached seemingly from nowhere, fastened itself over James's mouth, and pulled him backwards. In that one instant, the mirror became just the ice blanket again, and the little box's melody played on with no change.   
  
"Coming," Lily said. "Is somebody coming. That's what James was saying."   
  
Sirius nodded agreeably. "Yes."   
  
"Yes what?"   
  
"Apparently, somebody was coming. There's more to that mirror -" Sirius tapped the surface "-than meets the eye."   
  
"But who was that? How did he...or how did whoever it was get into my music box? What's going on here?" For the first time in her life, the melody wasn't soothing, it was distracting and almost sinister. She glanced almost angrily down at it, tapped it irritatedly, and was about to snap it shut when the whole world changed. It was almost as though she was going down a very narrow, very fast, very bright white waterslide headfirst, but there was no water here, and it didn't seem to have any direction in particular.  For  all Lily knew, it simply went on forever.   
  
If the guard had been watching, he would have admitted himself to a mental hospital for seeing two teenagers disappear and a wide-open music box click shut and fall to the floor._


	50. Adventures

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

  
  
_A/N: Suspenseful? Yes. Mysterious? I like to think so. Over? In your dreams.   
  
Just a little note, I'd like to thank a little "bird" for one of the more annoying characters that will show up shortly...not necessarily for the idea of that character, but the personality on which to base him. :o) Luv ya!   
  
*Clara jumps onto the table, wearing a party hat, and opens a can of silly string* HEY! It's our medi-centennial! It's my party, I can cry if I want to...cry if I want to...cry if I want toooo....*She sprays the silly string all over everyone* **HAPPY FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY, LILY!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!   
  
VERY VERY sorry that this took so long! I'm going to be on vacation for awhile starting next week and ending...well, you'd all murder me if I told you when the next chapter is coming out.  **_

_  
On with the show! (and bear with me...I'm making this up as I go along).   
  
  
_

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 50_

  
"Oof!" The air gushed from between Lily's teeth as she landed flat on her stomach. Sirius, however, slid a few meters on his rear end before bumping gently against a huge mirror. When Lily regained her breath, she regarded their surroundings in awe.   
  
Every inch of this hallway was covered with undulating mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Some were huge, floor-to-ceiling sheets of the wavy glass, others as small as the one in the music box. It may have been an illusion of the mirrors reflecting themselves, but there seemed to be other passageways branching off at crazy, zigzagging angles.   
  
Sirius groaned. "Okay. Remind me again why I hang around with you."   
  
Lily chose to ignore that comment, and instead started to inspect the walls of the hallway. "Look at this..." she laid her hand against one of the mirrors and shivered. It was like putting a hand just above a bathtub drain and feeling the tiny suction power of the little whirlpool in the water. "Where are we?"   
  
"I was going to ask you that." Sirius, too, was scrutinizing the mirrors. "Well, I've heard enough of those mystery programs on the wireless to know what to do. They always say, 'what happened last, before we got here?' That one's easy, right? You tapped the mirror, and-"  
  
"Hold it," Lily said, turning around quickly and pointing to him almost accusatively. "You tapped the mirror, too."   
  
He folded his arms pensively, looking upwards in thought for a second, then nodded. "Right. I did. Both of us tapped the mirror, and both of us looked at it. I figure that that's how we ended up here. And how we get around this place," he added.   
  
She smiled excitedly. "Sirius, that's brilliant! I could kiss you!  All we've got to do is find a mirror that's the same size and shape as the one in my music box...out of...all...these." The smile had faded from her face. "It won't be that easy, will it?"   
  
"At least we know how to get back here if we make a mistake," he pointed out.   
  
Lily shook her head. "But what if we wind up somewhere really bad?"   
  
"Like?"   
  
"I dunno...a vampire's washroom or something. Oh, and what about Muggles? If some poor Muggle man's just sitting there, reading the newspaper, and suddenly, a couple of kids fall through his mirror, what's he going to think?"   
  
He smiled dryly. "Pretty lofty talk for someone who just insisted on telling a Muggle police officer that her friend was stuck in a music box."   
  
"Stop! I said I was sorry! And anyway, we're probably closer to finding Mr. Potter than ever now." Lily sat down gingerly, staring at the vast expanse of glass in awe. "At least we know that the music box mirror's got to be near us somewhere, because we came through it, right?"  
  
"Not necessarily. I don't know about you, but I've never been here before, so I don't know how this place works. For all we know, the mirror we want could be miles away. If, that is, this hallway extends for miles."   
  
She settled her chin in her hands, glum again. "Then we're out of ideas. I'm never going to get back to my music box and the jail cell-"  Suddenly, her head snapped up to stare at Sirius with excited eyes.  "Sirius! We don't WANT to go back to that jail cell!"   
  


"Really?" He said sarcastically. "'Cos I was just thinking about how lovely it would be to be sitting back in that little cement room with all the Muggle policepeople giving us the evil eye."   
  
"No, no!" Lily jumped to her feet with a huge smile on her face.  "This is the way out! We just find a mirror that takes us somewhere on this street, then get out of the house or whatever it is, and find Mr. Potter! Oh! And James has to be around here somewhere, right?"   
  
"You know something, Lily? For once, you got the good idea before I did." Grinning like his old self, he drummed his fingers thoughtfully against the wall, supporting himself with that one hand.   
  
"Sirius! Don't-" But the words didn't come quickly enough. Sirius had turned and looked at the paneled glass, and disappeared through a full-length mirror before Lily could stop him. "Oh, no..." Gritting her teeth bracingly, she tapped the mirror and looked into it.   
  
  
  
  
When Lily landed on the wooden floor of what appeared to be a small house, the first thing she heard was a dry whacking sound and the screechy voice of an elderly woman screaming at someone.   
  
"Filthy beggar! Get out o' me house now! Ah've nae money fer ye!  Leave us alewn!" The dry whacking persisted, now mingling with a slight yelping noise.   
  
"Owoo! Hey! Stop-_oww! Quit hitting me with that- __yowch!" She knew the voice all too well, though she couldn't see its owner.  Getting quickly to her feet, Lily scampered in the direction of the clamoring. She burst out laughing at the sight.   
  
Sirius was running around the room, apparently trying to get back to the mirror, being chased by a rather frumpy-looking witch in frilly pink robes. The witch had angry black eyes, a sourly pursed mouth, and a large broomstick in her hands, with which she was assaulting the protesting Sirius.   
  
Lily thought fast. The only thing that came to mind was the ploy Sirius had used on the Muggle police officer, the one that would have worked if he hadn't muddled his explanation. She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed Sirius by the arm. "Oh, there you are...um...Bob! I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you! Why do you keep troubling the nice people?"   
  
The witch now menaced Lily with the broomstick, wagging it imperiously in her face. "An' who're ye?"   
  
"I'm Bob's sister, Suzie. You know, Suzie and Bob, Bob and Suzie, we're the village beggars, don't you know. Don't tell me you haven't heard of us, we're always...gulp...always running around and breaking into people's houses and taking their money or brooms...may I say, that is a very nice broom?" All this time, the angry-looking woman was forcing them backwards and shaking the broomstick.   
  
"Ah dewn't live in nae village! These be the mountains, an' if ye think it's a village, ye must be addled!"   
  
Lily shook her head. "No, no, I already told you, my name's Suzie, not Addled."   
  
"MAD!" She roared. "Addled means mad! An' ye've got 'til the count o' three tae get out o' me house! ONE!" Lily yanked Sirius back to the mirror. "TWO!" She tapped the glass and shouted for Sirius to do the same as the witch brought her broom down.... "THREE!" On thin air.  
  
  
  
  
The two friends collapsed in a laughing heap on the gleaming mirrored floor, speaking between gasps for air. "What - __hehehe - was her -  __hahaha! Problem?"   
  
"I dunno, but - __haha! I'm glad - __teeheehee! We didn't stick around to find - __whaha! Out!"   
  
After a few minutes, they were both sufficiently calmed down. Sirius stood up and, careful not to tap the mirror outright, leaned back against it with his arms folded. "Bob and Suzie, Suzie and Bob, is that it?"   
  
"Oh, come on! At least I didn't say that we were coming back from the fizzykiatrist."   
  
"I guess not, but really, the village beggars? Going around stealing people's brooms?" He shook his head sadly. "You need some lessons in the fine art of deception."   
  
Lily ignored him and walked to another shape of glass. "This could take a long time. A really long time."   
  
"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "But remember, we don't know anything about this world. Time could be really warped here."   
  
It sent tiny shivers down Lily's spine just at the possibility of how badly time could be warped. "Well, that's not really important. We just have to find our way out. And away from any Scottish witches with big broomsticks and a bad disposition," she added.   
  
Sirius made a little derisive noise and joined Lily at the large, circular mirror at which she was staring, gesturing gallantly. "After you."   
  
  
  
  
Lily was expecting to roll gently but ungracefully to the floor from some moderate height, but this was a dead drop to a thinly carpeted area, already packed with people. She quickly moved to the side so as to avoid Sirius's arrival. When he came flapping through the ceiling-mirror, he landed not on her, but on a tallish girl about Lily's age who was surrounded by her friends.   
  
"__Eek!" The girl tilted forward to be caught by the gaggle of her peers, who were now chattering uproariously. She shook Sirius off of her shoulders and hastily moved to the panel of buttons on the wall, punching the "LL" switch angrily. "Get me OUT of here!"   
  
Sirius, who had never quite refined his 'girl' skills, skittered to Lily's side, blushing and muttering embarrassedly. "Er...sorry.  Really sorry."   
  
"Yeah, well, you should be! You don't just jump onto people's backs like that!" The apparent leader, a girl with too much glittery eye shadow and purple-tinted lip gloss snapped at Sirius. "How did you get here, anyway?"   
  
Lily allowed Sirius to hide behind her. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you...where is this?"   
  
"I asked you first!"   
  
"Okay. I got here through the mirror. Where is this?"   
  
"Liar!" The tall girl blared. "You didn't get here through the mirror! That's impossible!"   
  
A rustling of encouragement came from the group, sounding a lot like "Take 'em out, Andrea!"   
  
Andrea narrowed her heavily accented eyes at Lily and pointed a finger at her. "You're looking for some trouble. And so is your stupid friend back there!" She jabbed her finger over Lily's shoulder to indicate Sirius, who was blushing harder than ever.   
  
Lily bit her lip. She recognized the girls' accents as being American, and this was obviously an elevator, but the mirror was too high up for them to reach! Then came the question of where the elevator was headed. Was this a high school, or a business building, or...  
  
The doors slid open with an over-friendly 'ding.' Theme music and neon lights blasted from a designer store in front of them. People rushed by in packs or alone. Fake trees and shrubs adorned the small benches and tiled floors. Lily drew in her breath sharply. What was she going to do with Sirius in a Muggle mall?   
  
"You've got five seconds to get away from us! Five..."  
  
"Deja vu," Sirius muttered.   
  
"Four..."   
  
Lily took one last desperate glance at the elevator mirror.  
  
"Three..."   
  
Sirius followed Lily in hurrying out of the elevator, grinning and making a 'call me' gesture at the girls.   
  
"TWO..."   
  
Andrea's rage had obviously been aroused at Sirius's antics. She abandoned the last number and flew after them, mercifully losing them in a crowd.   
  
Lily kept a tight grip on her friend's wrist, mumbling between her teeth. "A mall...of all places, a mall...an American mall. I just can't believe this..."   
  
"Woooooow." Sirius was looking around at everything in awe. "Look at all the stores....briiight liiiights..."   
  
"What are you, some kind of puppy?" She snapped at him, finally letting go of his wrist. "Haven't you ever seen a mall before?"   
  
He shook his head.   
  
Lily rolled her eyes and kept walking, figuring that he would follow.  After all, she was the one who'd actually been inside a mall before, she was the one who knew where she was going! Well, not really..."Sirius? Where should we try first?" No response. "Sirius?" She looked around on all sides, trying to find him. "SIRIUS!" Of course he picked NOW to get lost! Not even two-year-olds get lost in malls!  They just stay with their mums, and everything's okay! But __nooo, Sirius didn't have the brains of a two-year-old, so he went and got himself lost! "Agh!" Lily retraced her steps, looking under and over everything.   
  
"Can I have one of those twisty salty things, please?"   
  
Lily whipped her head up from looking over the rail to the bottom level. The voice was unmistakably his, but where was it...? Then, she spotted him at a little kiosk with a cardboard sign hanging from it. The sign displayed a puffy pretzel and equally puffy writing that said "Pretzel Time."   
  
"Uh, I like to call those 'twisty salty things' pretzels...sir." The teenager behind the counter sneered.   
  
"Okay. I'd like a pretzelsir. How much is that?"   
  
He handed Sirius the pretzel, wrapped in a logo-bearing square of wax paper. "One-fifty."   
  
"One-fifty what?"   
  
"Candy bars!" He snapped sarcastically. "Dollars! Come on!"   
  
"Oh, I don't have dollars. But will this work?" Sirius fished around in a pocket, coming up with three large round Sickles.   
  
"Where the heck do you come from??"   
  
Luckily, he didn't get a chance to answer. Lily grabbed the pretzel out of his hand, shoved it back at the boy behind the counter, and dragged Sirius away. "What were you THINKING?"   
  
"I was hungry!"   
  
"SO WHAT?"   
  
"Those pretzelsirs looked good!"   
  
Lily was breathing hard with frustration. "They're PRETZELS! Not pretzelsirs! Just keep your mouth shut for the rest of the time we're trapped in here!"   
  
He closed his lips and gave her the thumbs-up.   
  
"And don't run off like that again!"   
  
The two worked their way down the hall - which was more like a city street - as Lily scanned the neon glow of store signs, looking for something that would probably have a mirror. "Spencer's Gifts" looked way too weird, "The Science Shop" didn't look very likely, neither did "The Discovery Channel Store," and despite the rumbling of Sirius's stomach, Lily walked right past "Friendly's Restaurant." Finally, "afterthoughts" written in a flowing silver font above a store entrance and shelves of cosmetics inside tipped her off that this was the place to go.   
  
"Come on in," she hissed, "and pretend that you're my boyfriend."   
  
Without a word, he moved to her side and threw an arm around her shoulders, much like when they had first been introduced. He grinned sardonically at all passersby, still not saying anything.   
  
Lily struggled out from under his arm and swept over to a display of long necklaces with silver peace signs at the bottom of them. She slipped one over her head and turned to Sirius. "How does this look?"  
  
Still grinning evilly, he said nothing. Lily kicked his shin discretely. "You can talk now," she mumbled. Then, out loud, "Does this look okay, Brian?"   
  
"I thought my name was Bob."   
  
"It's Brian, Brian! Oh-ho-ho, you're such a kidder!" She stepped on his toes, masking it with laughter. "Now, tell me how this necklace looks on me!"   
  
"Um...peaceful?"   
  
Lily hid her irritation and hailed a passing employee. "Excuse me, do you have a mirror somewhere in here? My boyfriend isn't being of much help..." she glared back at Sirius.   
  
"Right past the key chains," she said, pointing towards the back of the store.   
  
"Thanks. Come on, BRIAN." Lily pulled the bewildered Sirius back to the row of little round mirrors where people were admiring themselves rather shamelessly.   
  
"Heyyyyyy, Andrea! How are you, m'dear? Long time no see!" He waved to the angry-looking brunette who was just a few yards away.  "How's your friend?"   
  
Lily was fairly shaken at the noise Andrea then made. It reminded her of how a bull sounds when it sees red. Her green eyes wide with fear, she shoved Sirius in front of one of the mirrors and tapped it, looking back only once to see him blowing a kiss good-bye to the group of hysterical girls.  
  
  
  
  
"That," Sirius said when they were back in the mirrored hallway, "Was fantastic."   
  
"No, that was stress."   
  
"How do you figure? I met a TON of girls, all of whom seemed rather frantic to get their hands on me, experienced the lovely scent of pretzelsirs, and, in general, had a great time with all the Muggles!"  He smiled widely. "I call that fantastic."   
  
Lily rubbed her temples. "Let me rephrase that for you. You fell onto a girl whose friend was, from that point on, out for our blood, then you took off in the middle of a crowded Muggle mall to try to buy a 'twisty salty thing' with wizard money, then you disputed what I said to be your name. People, normally speaking, don't say that they thought their name was something else than what someone called them!"  
  
He fixed her with a blank look after that confusing sentence. "What?"   
  
"Forget it!" She threw her hands up helplessly. "Pick the next mirror and, if it doesn't bring us somewhere good, just turn back around and tap it, okay?"   
  
"Yes, ma'am." Sirius walked towards a little diamond-shaped one.  "By the way, I'm sorry, I guess. Okay, here we go."   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_


	51. No Qualms

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

  
  
  
_A/N: I'm **TERRIBLY sorry for the delay! A rather...extended vacation was taken by both Clara and myself, but don't worry, no more are planned for awhile. :o)  With a lack of nothing better to say, shall we roll on?   
  
  
**_

**Lily**

_Chapter 51_

  
  
  
After the expected tumble to the floor, Lily's first impression was that they had re-entered the mirrored passageway. However, a closer look revealed that this place was much darker and smaller, but every bit as covered in mirrors. The hardwood floor was littered with hand mirrors and old newspaper clippings. Lily craned her neck to read some of the headlines.   
  
**"MIFFLEBEY'S SHOP BURNED TO THE GROUND BY ANTI-MUGGLE ACTIVISTS!" **

**"LOCAL STORE OWNER DISAPPEARS FROM PUBLIC EYE!" **

And then, a shred of an obituary: _"A beloved wife and mother, Mrs. Mifflebey passed away shortly after her husband's disappearance, both events having occurred under mysterious circumstances." The picture showed a thin woman with tawny hair and a big smile.   
  
"Creepy." Lily was drawn out of her reverie by Sirius's voice. "This place gives me more heebie-jeebies than that old witch with the broomstick. Hey, look at that!" He jogged over to an old desk pushed against the far wall of the room. One of its legs had fallen off and in its place was a thin spell book. Sirius sat down in the swivel chair and started examining the top of the desk.   
  
"Sirius! Stop, that could be someone's private stuff!"   
  
"Oh, come on, I'm not going to take anything...too big." He produced a bobby pin from one of his pockets, unlocked the main door, and started going through it. "Look at all this stuff! I'll bet even McGonagall doesn't have this many spell books in one drawer!"   
  
She hesitated, then hurried to look over Sirius's shoulder. "What kind of spell books are these?" Branded on the cover of each was a shiny green symbol...the Dark Mark! Lily went white. "Close the drawer and lock it!"   
  
"What, is somebody coming?"   
  
"No, just trust me! It's Dark magic! We're in a Death Eater's house!"   
  
"Oh, boy." Sirius dropped the book he had been leafing through and slammed the drawer, wiggling the bobby pin in the lock until it clicked. "We'd better get out of here. We can't even fight back if he-"  
  
"Or she," Lily corrected.   
  
"Whatever. If he or she tries something on us. At least, you can't. I could transform, right?"   
  
She grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards one of the mirrors. "Let's stop talking and get going!"   
  
"Okay."   
  
Suddenly, she heard something. "Wait!"   
  
"What?"   
  
"Shh! I think someone's coming!"   
  
"Then let's go!"   
  
"No, wait!" She lowered her voice until it was just barely a whisper. "If you transform, we can take whoever it is by surprise! We could capture them!"   
  
Sirius was quiet for a second, then started to smile. "You're joking, aren't you?"   
  
"No! We could really do this!"   
  
"You've lost your marbles! I'm talking to a crazy person! A lunatic!"   
  
"Stop it!"   
  
"You have GOT to be one banana short of a bunch if you think I'm going to take a flying leap at a full-grown, you-know-who-following, spellbook-collecting Death Eater!"   
  
"Shut up! They'll hear you!"   
  
"I'm leaving. I don't know if you're coming with me, but I'm getting my tushie out of here." He tapped the mirror once, then a voice was heard saying a short, unintelligible spell. A ball of white light exploded from the center of the room and made all the mirrors swim with mist.   
  
The same voice yelled "__Expelliarmus__!" Lily turned around and gasped as hers and Sirius's wands flew out of their back pockets. She recognized the man who caught them as having been at the Three Broomsticks that night in Hogsmeade, but it was not who she had expected.   
  
Instead of the grey-eyed, hawk-nosed recluse who had been muttering darkly to himself, it was the one Remus had pointed out as giving him a "bad feeling." There was only one difference from the first time she had seen him to now: this time, his kind hazel eyes had receded into an icy green, narrowed to slits with intense anger.   
  
"You don't know me," he breathed. "You don't know me, Lily Evans. But I know you." Lily flattened herself against the mirror behind her as he advanced on her, pointing threateningly with his wand. "You, who are finally at my mercy, are the little wretch who ruined my life the instant you decided to be born. And I know something else. Before I'm through with you, you'll pay most dearly. Death will come as a mercy."   
  
Sirius made a furious movement forward, but the man met him in the middle with a wand at his throat. "__Ah-ah-ah. It's her I want, but I have no qualms with killing you first."_


	52. Unexpected

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

  
  
_A/N: I am SO SORRY about how late this is! To make a lot of stories short (for a change, lol), we've been very busy and couldn't find the time to rendezvous and write the next chapter. I hope this is worth the wait.   
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 52_

  
  
  
"Because," he said, taking a small marble out of his pocket, "It would be all too easy for me to smash this into a million pieces."   
  
Lily watched as Sirius's jaw slowly dropped and he backed away. "What is it? A bomb or something?"   
  
"Uh...let's just say that James really gets around," Sirius muttered.   
  
The man smirked triumphantly, and Lily knew why. He had them trapped; he knew that they wouldn't try to leave without James. Striding casually back to the old desk, he twirled his wand absently. A weak shaft of candlelight glinted off of a little, presumably glass sphere at the end of it. Lily wondered who was inside.   
  
"Wh...why..."   
  
He finished her sentence for her. "Why am I doing this? It's a simple question with a simple answer. Because I can. Now," he hefted a dusty spellbook out and opened to the middle. "What do you think? Corpus Mendillius, the Pharaoh's Curse? An extra leg growing out of your head never fails as a conversation object, you know...Or how about-"   
  
He was cut off by a sudden shrill cheer. "Yahoooooooooooooo!!!! I'M FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" The glass ball at the end of his wand had taken on a bright white glow, then flown across the room, ricocheted off a half dozen mirrors, and landed, hovering, in front of Lily's nose. She now saw that it was a cloudy, light blue color with tiny neon lights dancing around inside of it. Whatever the thing   
was, it gave off the same amount of energy as a three-year-old boy who's been cooped up in the house all day because it's been raining. It didn't have a mouth, but all the same, it was shrieking at the top of its nonexistent lungs, "I'm free, I'm free, nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh! I got off that stupid stick of yours, and now I'm free! Nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh nyeh..." Sirius clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block out the irritating cackle.   
  
Their mysterious captor growled dangerously and raised his wand. "Accio Slave!"   
  
The little blue ball floated in lazy circles towards him, complaining poutily. "I'll 'accio' when I'm good and ready, how d'you like that, Mr. High-and-mighty-Mifflewhatever? I'm stretching my legs for once in the past...what's it been, twelve years I've been cooped up on the end of that ruddy wand? Twelve years! Leadin' you around that stupid mirror place - oh, yeah, here it comes, stickin' me onto that bleedin' wand again! Can't catch me sleepin' this time! Hah! I've got more magic in my little finger than you've got in your entire body...er, if I had little fingers." As though in display of his 'magic,' he transformed into a large (and curiously, light blue) phoenix, then into a coffemaker, and finally, into a brilliantly colored parakeet.   
  
"Slave, get back here!" roared the man.   
  
"Slave, get back here! Squaaawwk!"   
  
"I'll have your head for this!"   
  
"I'll have your head for this!" It let loose with a piercing whistle, then dove straight for Lily's and Sirius's wands, which were resting on the desk. Clutching the wands, he flew back towards the two teenagers.   
  
Sirius made a grab for them. "C'mon, hand it over!"   
  
"C'mon, hand it over!"   
  
"You know, you're the most annoying parrot I've ever seen!"   
  
"You know, you're the most annoying parrot I've ever seen!"   
  
"I've got half a mind-"   
  
"Don't flatter yourself...squaksquaksquak."   
  
Lily put a restraining hand on Sirius's arm and whispered into his ear.  "I've got an idea. don't say anything." She turned around until she and the parrot were facing the same direction, then checked to see if the wand-tips were pointed towards the figure walking angrily across the room. "Petrificus totalus!" she said, a bit of panic making her voice higher than usual.   
  
"Petrificus totalus!" repeated the bird, with a broad wink. Sparks flew out of both wands, uniting in a sort of sherbert-colored shroud that collided with and froze the formidable man. He fell face-first, his head inches from Lily's foot. It dropped the wands back to their owners.   
  
Sirius gaped at the prone form, then at Lily. "Wow. I guess McGonagall wasn't out of her mind when she moved you up a year."   
  
"Who said she was out of her mind?"   
  
"Er..." he smiled goofily. "Nobody."   
  
Lily rolled her eyes. "Let me guess. James?"   
  
"Marble Boy himself."   
  
The creature cleared his throat. "Y'know, I did play a little part in all this!" He changed into what looked like a Muggle lawyer, complete with a briefcase and an expensive haircut.   
  
"What are you?" She asked, indiscreetly.   
  
Once again, he changed forms. Now he was an old wizard with a very, very long gray beard. He adjusted his large spectacles knowledgably. "Well, I am technically an endangered species, having been debunked by scientific wizards and witches of all classes quite long ago, but in the old days, my appellation would have been 'perificator.'"   
  
Sirius stood silently for about a minute, thinking hard. "So you're the only perificator left in the world."   
  
"Last one I know of."   
  
"What does a perificator do?"   
  
Turning into a gelatinous blob with 'googly eyes,' he glanced snootily at Sirius. "Of course, that's long become a derogatory term. We prefer 'shape-shifter.' And I do have a name, you know. Karilonius Intrilmik Pinrafotat Prelentical Eddiepus Rhadamanthus. Kipper for short, but nobody's called me that in centuries. That fellow down there just calls me 'slave,' which I really can't help but resent; odd little quirk of mine."   
  
As Kipper had been making this rather lengthy speech, Lily was trying to find the least invasive way possible to find the marble that contained James. It helped quite a bit that the man was wearing Muggle clothes underneath his robes. She removed the long cloak and rifled through the pockets until a clear glass ball skittered across the floor. Sirius bent and picked it up, holding it close to his eye and speaking to nobody in particular. "Remus and Peter are never going to believe this."


	53. A New Beginning

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

  
  
_A/N: Okay...I guess that certain among u were confused by the last line of the last chapter. Don't worry, we'll clarify that here. :O)  
  
In response to a reviewer's question, we're Americans.   
  
  
_

**Lily**

_Chapter 53_

   
  
  


"It's sort of an old magic," Kipper explained as they walked through the familiar hall of mirrors. "Nobody invented it or anything, but all us shape-shifters have it. Turn right."   
  
Sirius turned to his right and pointed questioningly at what seemed to be a solid wall of glass. "Here?"   
  
Kipper nodded, now in the shape of a floating tropical fish. "Trust me."  
  
"Okay, but if I break my nose or something, it's your fault."   
  
As Kipper continued to speak, the trio slid unharmed through the entrance to another mirrored hallway. "We just have an innate sense of where the   
mirror-passages lead. Kind of like how some wizards have the 'Sight,' and that helps them with - take a left now - Divination. We can even go through a mirror that's been blocked from passage, as you probably already figured out. That's why he was looking for me. Well, not me specifically, but any shape-shifter. Now, I was just buzzing merrily along, minding my own business, and you can imagine my shock when this big ugly wizard claps me in his fist like I was some sort of housefly!  Er...I was actually in the shape of a housefly at the time, but that's besides the point. Before I knew it, he'd forced me to transform into a little glass ball and welded me to the end of that blasted wand.  By the way, you might want to steer clear of those orange-coloured mirrors, because they have a reputation of turning people into teddy bears. It's actually a pretty good life, really...you might get lucky. A little kid drools all over you, teeths the living daylights out of your nose, then throws you to Daisy, the family rottweiler."   
  
Carefully sidestepping the orange mirror, Lily voiced a question that had been weighing on her since the incident had began. "So...was he really Perry Mifflebey?"   
  
"You bet."   
  
"Why did he want to...do whatever he was going to do?"  
  
"That psycho? He's been after you since the day you were born! I'm assuming you've heard the story about what happened to his parents and their little gift shop?"  
  
"Well, yes, but-"  
  
"All true," Kipper cut her off abruptly. "Every word of it. Turn left again. I don't mean to sound melodramatic, but you would have done much better finishing him off right then and there. He's out for your blood, my dear."  
  
"You really brighten up a bad situation, don't you?"   
  
The tropical fish vanished with a small pop and was replaced with a large sun, much like the kind that a little boy would draw, grinning obnoxiously. "That's me. Mr. Golden Sun. Well, m'friends, I guess this is the parting of our ways. That's the mirror that'll bring you to your friend's father."  
  
"Okay. Thanks for your help, bye." Lily started towards the mirror, but was quickly held back by a sudden heaviness on her right ankle. She looked down in surprise, only to see a blue sandbag tied around it.   
  
"Don't leave _meee__!" Kipper whined from an unseen mouth. "It's really lonely being me! There isn't anyone perfect enough to hang out with!  Come on! __Pleeeeeease__?"   
  
Lily bent down and tried to untie him, but he only tightened his hold on her ankle. "Don't be ridiculous! Listen, you're way safer in here, what with Perry looking for you."  
  
"Well, by that logic, you two might as well stay in here with me!"  
  
"No!" She said firmly, now trying to drag the sandbag along the floor so that she could reach a mirror. "Besides, you wouldn't like it- you probably wouldn't even be able to survive at Hogwarts!"  
  
"Right, McGonagall would probably smash you into a pulp," Sirius spoke up dryly.   
  
Lily shot him a heated glare. "I don't see you helping me out any," she said angrily.   
  
He grinned. "I would, but this is too much fun."   
  
"See?" Kipper turned into a rubber ball and started bouncing rapidly.  "Seeseeseeseesee? He thinks I'm fun! I'll bet you need fun in your life! Oh, yeah, and you need a friend, too!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"To replace that guy that Perry put in a marble!"  
  
"Listen," Sirius said patiently. "Thanks for getting us away from Perry and all that, but you're too much trouble to have around. No offense."  
  
The rubber ball's bouncing slowed until it came to rest at a hover around Sirius's knee. "Fine! Go ahead and leave, forget about how much I helped you."  
  
"Thanks for the offer. Bye!" As they went through the mirror, they heard Kipper's delighted voice giggling after them.   
  
"You can leave, but remember...I can find anyone I want, anywhere I want, anytime I want!"   
  
  
  
  
  
  
It turns out that Mr. Potter had just been down the street a few houses, at the local Ministry office. He was, needless to say, shocked to see that his son was encased in a marble. It was a fairly simple counter- spell to perform, and in no time, James was back to his old self, so to speak. The summer slid back into a pleasant lull, until one very humid day around mid-August. Noon found Lily, James, and Sirius sitting around the kitchen table with a pitcher of iced tea and some sandwiches in which nobody seemed particularly interested. The window was open, but it wasn't helping the heat at all.   
  
A light brown owl with black speckles and rather large wings swooped quietly in through the window and dropped a letter on the table in front of James, then fluttered to the center of the table and started pecking at the sandwiches. It didn't seem very excited to fly back outside.   
  
While the owl removed the watercress from between two slices of white bread, James read the letter. "Oh, no...not this year!"   
  
"Who's it from?" Sirius asked listlessly.   
  
"Er...Harvey Locksmire."  
  
"Isn't he that huge sixth year beater?"   
  
James threw the letter down on the table and leaned back in his chair, putting a hand over his eyes. "Seventh year, now. But you aren't going to believe this. He was flying with his big brother, just practicing his Quidditch technique, and he had a bit of a run-in with an owl..."  
  
"Oh, no."  
  
"Toppled right off and practically shattered his shoulder. It's not going to heal till Christmas."  
  
Sirius let out a moan. "What are we going to do now?"   
  
"Get a replacement, I guess. But can you believe that? I mean, I've already started writing up special plays for him! There isn't a single Gryffindor I can think of who'd be even half the beater he is."  
  
"That's just our luck," said Sirius resignedly. Then, he suddenly looked up and smiled as though he knew of a Gryffindor who'd be much more than  
half the beater Harvey Locksmire was.   
  
This, in a nutshell, is why Lily Evans found herself hovering seventy feet above the ground on a broomstick, clutching the handle with white knuckles and not even thinking about the beater's club that James had tied to her right hand.   
  
James wove in and out of the trees that surrounded his house, building up agility in case Lily hit something at him too quickly. "Okay, I'm going to throw a nice big rubber ball at you now! All you have to do is hit it with the club, okay?"   
  
"Why couldn't you have broken your arm instead of Harvey?" Lily shouted shrilly.   
  
"Because then they'd need a new Seeker, and you'd have the bludgers getting beat towards you," said Sirius with an evil grin, before whizzing off to join James.   
  
"I'm throwing the ball on three. One...two...__three!"   
  
Lily sat up slowly, still grabbing tight hold of the broom handle with her left hand, but now holding the club slightly aloft and out to the side. She gritted her teeth and swung it at the ball with all her might.  
  
"Whoa!" James yelled.   
  
"__Holy ----!" But luckily, Sirius's words were blocked out by the ball shattering an upstairs window in James's house.   
  
She gaped at the window. "Er...sorry!"   
  
"Don't be!" Yelled James, smiling from ear to ear. "This is just about the best thing that ever happened to me! We just need to work on your fear of heights..."_


	54. Pests

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 54_

  
  
  
  
  
  
"RINGRINGRINGRINGRING"  
  
Lily sat bolt upright in her bed and instinctively whipped the blankets to one side, making ready to clamber out and run to the nearest exit.  Her first thought had been that a Muggle fire alarm was going off, but, as she turned to the side, Sirius's presence negated that fear.  
  
"Rise and shine!" He said, smiling brightly and giving the brass bell in his hand an extra shake for emphasis.  
  
Lily closed her eyes tightly, trying to convince herself that this was just a weird dream.  
  
"Sirius, it's the summer holiday. We have no classes, and I want to - what are you doing here, anyway?"  
  
"Lily," Sirius said, the look on his face now earnest. "We are going to get you a pet."  
  
"A what?"  
  
"A pet. A creature that will follow you around and cause you stress and generally improve the condition of your life. By definition, I believe it's any domestic or trained animal that is kept and cared for affectionately. You know, an owl, a cat, a rat, a dog - may I recommend a dog? - a Schnoodle, perhaps?"  
  
"What the heck's a Schnoodle?" Sirius had cast the bell aside and was headed towards her dresser now. "Hey! Get away from there!"  
  
"Well, you're not helping any, and we need to get started early if you're going to be as indecisive as you want today, so I'm going to help you get an ensemble together. I mean, it'll help if you have time to figure out whether to buy a Flobberworm, a manticore, a quetzallic...d'you really need these?" Sirius had been rooting through her drawers, and suddenly held up one of her more lacy pairs of underpants. She leapt out of bed and snatched them away, hissing into his face like an angry snake.  
  
"Get. Out. Of. My. Room. Is that clear?"  
  
Sirius flashed a grin, then headed towards the door beofe whirling around dramatically and saying, "I must warn you of the fate that awaits you should you not accept my kind invitation! A day full of flying lessons with James! Adieu!"  
  
  


  
  
  
"May I help you?"  
  
Lily smiled tensely at the storekeeper at the Magical Menagerie and shook her head. Sirius had all but dragged her into the tiny, cage-filled shop, and she didn't feel very capable of talking without hurling obscenities at the next person with whom she spoke. She shook her arm free of Sirius's grasp and started to explore the shelves.  
  
A huge terrarium was pushed against one wall, and contained several Fire Crabs and a good number of brilliantly-coloured Fwoopers, all of which appeared to be singing their hearts out. A sticker clung to the glass on their cage: "For Licensed Owners Only." The ceiling was covered with neon tree frogs. Lily was gazing at them in wonder when she heard a loud purr from around her ankles.   
  
There was a huge, bowlegged ginger cat with a completely flat snout. It was probably the ugliest animal that Lily had seen, except for its eyes...what was so familiar about its eyes? They were an unexceptional cloudy blue in colour, but they conveyed a sense of communication and urgency.  
"Er...hello," Lily said.  
  
The cat meowed in response.  
  
"What's your name?"  
  
"It doesn't have one," said the shopkeeper, limping around the counter.  One of the old man's legs was considerably shorter than the other. "Just sort of walked in here a few months ago, made itself at home. I couldn't ever get him to leave. Seems to like you, though."  
  
"Hmm." Lily had lost interest in the cat and moved on to an aquarium full of little spherical, spotted fish. "What are these called?"  
  
"Plimpies. Are you sure you don't want the cat?"  
  
She looked down at the cat, who was giving her that pleading, urgent look again. "Well, of course. I'm not really a cat person," she added apologetically, more to the cat than to the storekeeper.  
  
"Lily, you've got to see these little puffskeins! Whoa...they can jump!" Sirius called.  
  
James ran across the room from a staring contest with a mournful-looking Ramora and started unwinding the puffskeins' tongues from Sirius's arm.  

  
The shopkeeper shuffled over to assist James, and to prevent one of the little furballs from eating Sirius's nose. "They get restless if we don't feed them for an hour or so. I'm very sorry...you can have one free if you want."  
  
"Er, no thanks," James said, now stuffing the creatures back into the bag. "Maybe it was a bad idea to come here."  
  
"Oh, come on, I was just starting to have fun!" The now puffskein-free Sirius reluctantly started for the exit between James and Lily.   
  
"Now, just a minute! You aren't leaving with that cat unless you pay for it!" the storekeeper yelled.   
  
Lily glanced downward. The cat was still following her! "Shoo! Go! Psst! Go away!" It looked sardonically up at her, as if to say that those silly tricks wouldn't work on him. Her eyes moved from the cat to Sirius to the shopkeeper's outstretched hand.   
  
"That'll be twelve Galleons."  
  
  
  
  
  
So the summer continued, with James's abominable flying lessons every day and Sirius's moods waxing and waning, until September first.  Miraculously, Lily wasn't as afraid of heights anymore, and her balance on a broomstick had improved. Now it was time for the acid test: a flight to King's Cross station in London.   
  
  
  
_A/N: Sorry it's so short! But at least the LONG summer has ended!! YAY!_


	55. Watermelons

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001

_A/N: Hey, guess what? We've been writing this fic for a year now! Happy **REAL birthday to Lily!   
  
  
  
  
**_

**Lily**

_Chapter 55  
  
  
_

"Watch OUUUUUT!"  
  
_Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump**-****SPLAT  
  
At least fifty large, ripe watermelons exploded out of the crate and rolled heavily across the street, most meeting with messy fates before their journey was over. The Muggle grocer thundered out of the store.  "What in bloody hell is going on out here??"  
  
Lily tried to disentangle herself from the few remaining melons and the broken boards of wood while stammering an apology. "Sorry, sir, I just....kind of didn't see your store there...."  
  
"What d'you mean, you didn't see it? You broke right through the bloody canopy!"  
  
"Er..." She pushed the brightly painted sign ('Watermelons - £5') off of her face and found herself staring into the very angry face of a rather large man. "I'm really sorry."  
  
He pointed an accusing finger in her face. "Now look here, young lady.  I don't know what you were doing on my roof - probably some stupid dare - but I demand that you pay for those watermelons. Now!"  
  
Lily was lost for words. The old broomstick she had been using was still buried in the rubble with all her luggage tied to it; James, Sirius, and Mr. Potter had most likely landed safely on the roof; and she only had a few Sickles in her pocket, not to mention the fact that the crash had attracted the attention of the whole street. "I - I don't really have any money..."  
  
"Well, I should have known!" The storekeeper bellowed. "Those watermelons cost me four and a half pounds apiece, and there were twenty-three of them left! Wait here!" He stomped back into the store.  When he emerged, he was carrying a pad of paper with figures on it, which he thrust into Lily's face. "That's over £100 that you owe me - even more than that if you consider that I was selling them for £5, and the mess! Who d'you think is going to pay for cleaning up this mess, hmm? I'll tell you what, Little Miss 'I'm-sorry,' you're going to compensate for this somehow!"  
  
She looked around for an escape, then got an idea. "How about I work here, without pay? Just as long as it would take to pay for the melons?"  **_

"Is this a trick?" His words were positively soggy with suspicion.  
  
Lily's mouth went dry. "No trick...I just saw the 'help wanted' sign in your window. Since I don't have any money, and I'm guessing that you wouldn't trust me to leave and come back with some -" the grocer snorted.  "- this is probably the best thing to do, don't you agree?"  
  
Still eyeing her warily, he grabbed a pencil from behind his ear and started figuring on the pad of paper again. "That's about six weeks of five days that you'd have to work, every day a good chunk of your afternoon gone. Sure you wouldn't rather be out gallivanting with friends?"  
  
"Are you trying to fire me before I even start?"  
  
"I don't know if I really want someone as clumsy as you on my staff, miss...what's your name, anyhow?"  
  
"Isabel. Isabel...Jones," she faltered. It was a pathetic attempt at a fake name, but it was better than 'Suzie.'  
  
"I'm Mr. Lyons. You don't need to know my first name, because you won't be calling me by my first name. Every day except Saturdays and Sundays, I expect to see you here at 2:30 sharp, and you won't be leaving until 6:00. Agreed?" Mr. Lyons extended his huge paw to her.  
  
"Agreed," Lily said. Her fingers were crossed halfheartedly behind her back.  
  
  
  
  
  
It was even more of a challenge to convince Mr. Lyons that the two large suitcases and the cat-carrier (which, of course, contained her new cat) were hers. She had promised to explain it on her first day of work, which, of course, would never come.  
  
James, Sirius, and Mr. Potter, apparently, had watched the whole thing from the rooftop, and James was amazed. "Lily, that was the most Marauder-like thing I've ever seen you do. I see now that the long hours we've spent corrupting you have not been in vain. May I shake your hand?"  
  
Lily couldn't help but laugh as she turned and watched Mr. Potter heft the bigger of her suitcases up onto the train. "It was nothing," she said sarcastically. "I'm so sorry that I had to leave the broomstick, but I don't think Mr. Lyons would have been so understanding if I had to explain that one away."  
  
They had started to walk towards the nearest compartment. Sirius chimed in. "It's got to say something about him if he even looks scary from the top of a building. So how intimidating was that guy in person?"  
  
"I don't think I've ever met anyone with such a bad temper!" She put on a scowl and started jabbing her index finger around scoldingly, in a fair imitation of Mr. Lyons. "I paid good money for those watermelons, young lady, and someone's got to clean up this--" Suddenly, her ankle struck the running-board and she fell forward into the open compartment door.  She winced, bracing herself for impact with the floor, but one of James's hands latched around her wrist and the other one grabbed her waist, stopping her fall.   
  
He awkwardly pulled Lily to her feet and let go of her waist, breaking into a self-conscious half-smile. "I guess the next '_corruption' lesson is to look where you're going."   
  
She mirrored the smile, uneasily yet pleasantly aware of the fact that James had not yet released her wrist from his grasp. The silence paced along like a jaguar, camouflaged by the surrounding chatter, thick as jungle foliage. Sirius bit his lip and scribbled violently on that ever- present piece of parchment.  
  
"Lily! Lily!"   
  
Half relieved that the silence had gone to its rest; she turned around at the sound of Mr. Potter's voice. He was walking towards her, the huge orange cat looking distinctly discontent against his chest. "Lily, you almost forgot your cat! I just got the cat-carrier up onto the train, and it started yowling like there was no tomorrow. Here." He dumped the cat ungracefully into Lily's arms. "Have a good term! 'Bye!"   
  
Lily and James continued onto the Hogwarts Express with Sirius between them, looking for the other two Marauders and Juno. After going through  
three compartments, Lily caught Narcissa Taylor staring at her with a mixture of confusion and infuriation. Narcissa immediately turned away, though, and led Lucius Malfoy away by the arm, obviously intent to have a serious conversation with him.   
  
This strange spectacle was forgotten, however, when the compartment door burst open and Juno swept Lily into a hearty embrace (which was most   
likely very uncomfortable for the poor cat). "Lily! We have been looking __all over this train for you three! Where've you been? And where did you get that adorable kittycat?" Without waiting for an explanation, she pulled the carroty monster away from Lily and set about getting to know it better. "Oh, such a cute widdle kitty, yes you are! Yes you are! Lookit your widdle bitty face, all squished up! Awww!" Juno dropped out of the shrill voice she had been using and looked around the cat to Lily. "Did you name it yet?"   
  
"Er...not exactly..." Then she explained how she had come to own the cat while she, Juno, and the four Marauders found an empty compartment.   
  
Juno was wearing a grin a mile wide. "Lily! Don't you see what this means? Normal cats don't follow people around like that! This cat," she said, stroking the ginger blur solemnly, "Is not an ordinary feline.  This cat has powerful ties to you."  
  
"What exactly do you propose I do about that?" Lily couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice.   
  
"Just wait. Juuust wait, and I'm sure everything'll become clear." She turned back to the cat. "Isn't that wight, my sweet widdle babyboo? I know just the thing to call you...Lily Junior!"   
  
Lily shot her a dirty look, but Juno was too busy playing with the cat.   
  
  
  
  
  
Narcissa's nails dug into Lucius's arm. "Did you see that?" she hissed.  
  
"See what?"   
  
"You idiot!" she tightened her grip. "That Evans girl! The cat!"  
  
_

"Cat? Do you mean..."  
  
"Yes, THAT cat!"  
  
"But we threw her into the Forbidden Forest!"   
  
"I guess you didn't think about the fact that _cats have legs!"   
  
"Calm down, Narcissa, you'll break a nail." Lucius's voice was like oil flowing over ice. "Let's not lose our heads here."  
  
"Not lose our heads? You must be insane! She's back, and you're not worried in the least? I hate cats!"  
  
"How can you be sure it's even her?"   
  
"You told me that you turned her into a big ugly orange cat with bowed legs. How many cats like that are there in this world, Lucius?"   
  
"She can't be back..."   
  
"She can because she is! I tell you, she's back!"   
  
  
  
  
_

_A/N: I need to accredit the simile "his voice was like oil flowing over ice" to the brilliant **Brian Jacques in his book, ****The Pearls of Luthra.**_


	56. Oddity Potpourri

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

  
  
  
_A/N: Happy New Year! Lily+Company enters their sixth year at Hogwarts....will sparks fly, or will yet another year pass without any satisfaction for you hopeless romantics out there?   
  
(muahahaha)   
  
  
  
_

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 56_

  
  
  
James was Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, so Lily was automatically in (much to her dismay). Her fellow Beater was a fourth year named Eva Sinclair, who was at least a head taller than Lily and looked as though she could wrestle three Bludgers with her bare hands.  A wiry seventh year boy, Brendan Christenson, was Keeper, and James was the Seeker, of course. The three Chasers were Quinn Baker, Lena Riley, and Michael Daehn.   
  
The first practice was a bit nerve-racking, to say the least. Lily still couldn't land a broomstick without practically breaking her neck, although   
her fear of heights was pretty well under control. Besides, Eva kept cracking her knuckles and looking at Lily like she was determined to prove which of them really deserved to be on the team. Lily just smiled tentatively and tried to stop her stomach from doing acrobatics.   
  
"All right!" James called after everyone had arrived. "I'm going to cut right to the chase: Gryffindor hasn't won the Quidditch Cup in twenty-nine  
years, and I'll be a Squib if this team makes it a straight thirty! Now, I spent my summer thinking up new plays, and I took the liberty of making  
copies for everyone." He reached into an inside pocket of his robes and produced six playbooks that looked like the kind of thing that only Advanced History of Magic students have to read. Everyone groaned.  
  
Quinn Baker scowled as he accepted his copy. "Honestly, Potter, when are you going to give it up?"   
  
"I'll tell you when I'm going to give it up: In June, when we all look around and see the Gryffindor colors decorating the Great Hall!"   
  
"Oh, knock it off," Brendan Christenson laughed, leafing through the playbook. "There's got to be at least a hundred different plays in here!  
We can't run half of them this year!"   
  
James looked offended. "For your information, there are twenty-six.  And I admit fully that I might have gone a little overboard with the full-color  
sketches and three-page analyses on numbers fifteen through twenty."   
  
"Right. Like I'm going to read all that," Eva said as though rebelling against a practical joke.   
  
"Yes, you are going to read all that. As a matter of fact, all of you are going to read all that, and MEMORIZE all that before our first game!"  
  
Lily couldn't keep from a huge smile. James could certainly be a control freak when he wanted to.   
  
"Something funny?"   
  
She looked up. "What?"   
  
"I said, is something funny?" James was looking at her with one eyebrow raised.   
  
"Er, nothing really...it's just that..." She thought up a quick lie. "You misspelled a word on page one hundred fifty-nine."   
  
"I knew it!" He said, crossing his arms over his chest. "It's when I'm describing the Licopelli Pivot, isn't it? Should be the second paragraph?"  
He snatched his own copy and began flipping pages urgently.   
  
  
  
  
  
Pamela Vancouver was a short, slightly pudgy Ravenclaw first year.  She was really a half-blood, but had been raised by her mother, who   
happened to be a Muggle. She had always known that she was magical, but she had never expected anything as exciting as Hogwarts! Moving  
portraits and talking suits of armor...even magic wands! The whole thing was overwhelmingly strange to her.   
  
One can imagine the shock that poor little Pamela received when a giant chess pawn tapped her on the shoulder as she was going to Charms   
class and said, "Pardon me, good lady, but couldst thou tell a poor lost soldier where he might find a chessboard?"   
  
Needless to say, she fainted on the spot.   
  
The passing Professor Sinistra managed to console Pamela's hysterical friends, gather her books, and revive her for a visit to the Hospital Wing.   
The pawn in question stood by at attention the whole time, seeming both concerned and extremely befuddled.   
  
  
  
Professor McGonagall strode into the Gryffindor common room.  "Black! Potter! Lupin! Pettigrew! Evans! _NOW!"   
  
The Marauders grinned at each other, then sobered up as they approached McGonagall with the confused Lily.   
  
She slammed the now normal-sized pawn onto the table sharply. "Well?"  
  
Lily had no idea what was going on. "What do you mean?"  
  
"This is from your chess set, is it not, Miss Evans?"   
  
"I don't know..." She hesitantly reached for it. "Is it cursed?"   
  
"It most certainly is not!"   
  
"Sorry." Lily picked it up and turned it over. Yes, it was hers. It even had her initials scrawled on the cork bottom in blue ink. "Yes, it's mine. Why do you ask?"   
  
Ignoring the question, McGonagall glared at them. "One of you had better have a very, very good explanation as to why a life-sized version of this pawn was hopping around the halls this afternoon, frightening a first-year girl half to death!"   
  
The boys could no longer contain themselves; they all emitted a quick snort of laughter in unison, then regained their composure. "Er...it started out pretty much innocently...."   
  
"Yes, we were studying our Engorgement Charms, really we were..."  
  
"And Lily gave us the pawn to practice on, so...hehe..."   
  
"What were we supposed to do, decline her oh-so-generous offer?"   
  
"That's enough, Mr. Black!" McGonagall's nostrils flared like an angry horse's. "In order for your story to be true, several unlikely circumstances would also have had to take place. One, that you four were studying at all. Two, that all four of you hit the pawn with very potent Engorgement Charms simultaneously. Three, that you were doing all this out in the hallway - seeing as the hall is not exactly a favorite chess spot, I'm just assuming that this is false - since the pawn could not possibly have fit through the portrait hall when it was enlarged.  Thus, you have committed several transgressions within the space of a day: You must have practiced magic in the halls; then, the object of the spell was obviously antagonistic; and of course, we can't forget the fact that you __LIED to my face in order to escape inherent punishment!"   
  
Lily was speechless. She had known absolutely nothing about this, but McGonagall wouldn't believe her, not when she was this angry. How  
had they gotten ahold of one of her chess pieces? Maybe it was when she and Sirius had been playing chess in the common room the previous evening...  
  
"Are you listening, Miss Evans?" McGonagall snapped. "Or can't you see my lips moving above that Prefect badge?"   
  
Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. "I - I - I didn't - "   
  
"Detention for all of you, and forty points from Gryffindor! I must say, I am ashamed that five Gryffindor students, two of them Prefects, could   
possibly be so careless and negligent!" And with that, she turned on her heel and slammed the portrait shut behind her.   
  
The four boys burst out laughing as soon as she left. "Did you see the look on her __face?"   
  
"And what was she talking about? 'The object of the spell was obviously antagonistic?' Who in the heck talks like that?"   
  
"I know! And then she dug into Lily about being a Prefect and - OW!"  Sirius clapped a hand to his forehead, where Lily had hit him with the  
little stone pawn.   
  
"Shut...up!" She smoldered from behind gritted teeth. "You've already done ENOUGH, okay? You stole from me, for one thing!"   
  
"Hey! I took that pawn out with my knight, and it just sort of...fell into my pocket."   
  
"I said shut up! And then, you lied to Professor McGonagall! I can't believe you lied to her! HOW do you look at her face and lie?"   
  
Remus grinned. "Practice."   
  
"DID YOU NOT HEAR ME WHEN I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP???"   
  
All four of them backed up a step. Lily was ticked.   
  
"I had a perfect record! I have __never had a SINGLE detention in my life! Not even when I was in Muggle elementary school! And now, you  
four have to besmirch my reputation with a STUPID prank -"  
  
"Whoa, whoa, back up....'besmirch?'"  
  
"If you paid any attention in History of Magic, you'd hear Professor Binns say it all the time!"  
  
Sirius cleared his throat. "Professor Binns is a little bit dead."   
  
"__AND YOU'RE A LITTLE BIT STUPID!" Lily grabbed her pawn off the floor and ran up to her dorm, where the pillow was soon ripped to   
shreds.   
  
  
_

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  
_Disclaimer: Brendan Christenson, Quinn Baker, Eva Sinclair, __Lena__ Riley, Pamela Vancouver, Michael Daehn, Juno (not featured in this   
chapter, lol), and everything that's ours is ours. Everything that's J.K's...is hers. That clear everything up? Get it? Got it? Good.   
  
Have a nice day. :o)_


	57. Detention

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

  
  
  
_A/N: We're VERY VERY sorry about how late this is! We know it isn't really that long, but we hope it's to your liking. Those of you with a taste for those funny "transition" chapters will probably enjoy this.   
  
  
__Disclaimer: We own what we own and that's all that we own. :o)  
  
  
  
  
  
  
_

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 57_

  
  
The next morning, Lily was still icy towards the Marauders. She all but ignored them at breakfast, speaking to them only when she needed the butter or the syrup or the orange juice.  
  
"Remus, please pass the fruit salad."  
  
Remus picked it up to pass it to her, then held it back. "I don't know about those three, but I'm sorry about getting you in trouble and, er, what  
was your word? Besmirching your reputation. And I'm not going to pass you the fruit salad until you forgive us."  
  
"Yeah, I was tossing and turning until three in the morning just feeling so bad about stealing your pawn. Honestly, Lily, relax. Detention can be fun!"  
  
  
  
  
  
"If you even THINK of throwing that sponge at me, you're getting this bucket of suds down your back!" Lily held the bucket at ready, aimed right at Sirius.  
  
He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey! I was just pointing at a...erm...freshly besmirched spot."  
  
"Ew!" Lily cringed away and almost stepped on one of the smaller owls that was chirping around her ankles. It squawked and flew upwards into the rafters full of its fellow owls. They were in the school Owlery, serving their detention with a sponge and bucket of soap and water each. No cleaning charms. "You said detention could be fun!"  
  
James swatted at a huge brown monstrosity that had almost carried off his sponge. "It can. This is just one of those not-fun detentions.  Consider it hazing, Lily, for your initiation into a grand and glorious legacy of - "  
  
"Owl poop," Remus said bluntly.  
  
"Eurgh! This is sooo gross! I'm liable to get hit any second!" She scrubbed at a vacant perch, then looked up from her work when the door burst open.  
  
The huge groundskeeper shuffled in, a scroll held gingerly in one of his large hands. "Oh, no...Owlery duty, eh? I know 'ow that goes. Thanks, though - if y'weren't doin' it, it'd be me."  
  
"You're so welcome I could cry," Lily grumbled.  
  
Hagrid put three Knuts in the slot below one of the largest owls there and set about tying his letter to its leg. "Ah, chin up. Detention ain't the end o' the world. Well, yew four know that, anyway," he said with a wink at the Marauders.  
  
Peter would have winked back if he wasn't being heckled by a female owl that seemed very interested in him. "Leave me alone! Ow!" It kept pecking at him as if he were a tasty morsel. "Get AWAY!"  
  
James chuckled and took out his wand to get the owl away from Peter, then turned and looked at Hagrid. "You don't mind if I..."  

  
"Ah, go 'head. Nobody oughta keep nobody from doin' magic, I say."  
  
"Right. Thanks." He pointed his wand at the owl. "Tarfilus chocotus...er, Wendelin." Immediately, the owl turned into a card, exactly like the kind one would find inside a Chocolate Frog box. Except that behind the picture of Wendelin the Weird, an owl flitted about. James grinned and pocketed the card. "I've been missing this one."  
  
Sirius leaned against the wall and threw his sponge into the bucket. "I agree, Hagrid. Nobody oughta keep nobody from doin' magic." He took out his wand. "Limpius Totalus!" The entire room sparkled with the special sheen that a Cleaning Charm gives.  
  
"Sirius!" Lily shrieked. "That's cheating!"  
  
"Hey, if you'd rather do it the other way, I know the countercharm."  
  
"You see, Lily, this is the fun part of detention," Peter said. "Sneaking out."  
  
Desperate to obey the rules, Lily turned to Hagrid. "What about him?"  
  
Hagrid sent the owl out the nearest window. "Me? I didn' see a thing."  Then he strolled out, whistling.  
  
  
  
  
  
Juno sat in the common room, dangling a blue string in front of Lily Junior's face. "Come on, kitty! Come on, bat the string around!" It wasn't responding at all. "Are you blind or something? Swat at the string! Claw it like a normal cat!"  
  
If possible, the cat meowed sarcastically.  
  
Juno sighed and set the string down, then picked the cat up and started scratching its head. "You're one strange little kitten, you know that, Lily Junior?"  
  
All of a sudden, Lily Junior pounced onto the cushion with an angry hiss and started a fierce battle with the string. Even odder than the cat's behavior, however, was the fact that the string seemed to be fighting back! It tied itself around the cat's front paw, then transformed into a ball-and-chain. Juno leaped up and shrieked.  
  
The ball changed into a cantaloupe with a face. "Ah, quit your yellin'.  And you!" It turned to face the cat it was chained to. "I've had about enough of you! If you don't stop pawing at me, I'll roll right out that window and turn into a bird halfway down!"  
  
Juno had her wand out. "What are you? BESIDES rude?"  
  
"A shape-shifter. I take it you know someone named Lily?"  
  
"What do you want with Lily?" Juno's voice had gone gravelly and dangerous.  
  
It turned into a shield. "Hey, hey, peace! Let's just say I was a summer acquaintance of hers. A summer romance, one could call it..."  
  
"Don't be stupid!"  
  
"I won't if you won't."  
  
"You still haven't told me what you want with Lily!"  
  
"I just wanted to say 'hi.'"  
  
Juno eyed it suspiciously as it shifted into an innocent-looking lamb. "I think she's in the Owlery. Don't try anything funny!"  
  
"Funny?" It turned into a miniature stand-up comedian. "I wrote the book on funny, babe! Hey, could you tell me where I could find a mirror?"


	58. He's BAAAAACK!

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

_A/N: Ok, here's the deal. We love reviews. We won't deny it. Review junkies, that's us. Our goal is 1000 reviews. Please help us attain it. Thank you for your cooperation in this endeavor. :O)_

**The Lily Series**

_Chapter 58_

"Yeah, well, you also said that detention was going to be fun!" Lily said nervously, standing just outside the range of the Whomping Willow's branches. 

Remus was leaning up against a nearby tree. "Lily," he said exasperatedly, "I don't understand you. You already know the tree can freeze if you press the knot, so why are you so scared?" 

"I'm not scared, I just don't think it's very safe for him to scurry through there to the trunk. He could get clubbed all the way to France by one of those branches!" 

This ping-pong conversation had been going on for at least ten minutes, and Sirius was getting _very tired of it. "Listen, if you hold us up any longer, someone could see us out here and report us for another detention."_

"So?" Lily snapped. "What do I care? You do, after all, deserve it." 

James grinned. "You realize that they'd probably report you, too, right?" This, of course, set all four of them off. 

"Alas, another smirch on your record!" 

"And in such rrrapid succession!" 

"You'll be cleaning owl poop for weeks on end for this one!" 

"They'll most likely give us all separate detentions – we won't be there to get you out of it!" 

"You'll have to repeat this year just for that!" 

"All right!" she yelled, staunching the flow of teases. "But don't blame me if you get yourself killed going through there!" She handed Peter's wand back to him so that he could transform into a rat. As she watched, it suddenly occurred to her that he didn't really need the wand to be a rat. 

The electric-blue ball hummed through the empty corridors of Hogwarts, going towards the sound of owls hooting. Sure enough, he turned a corner and found it, but Lily wasn't there. Instead, there was a tall, very angry-looking black-haired woman standing in the middle of the vaulted room, ranting and raving to herself. He transformed quickly into an owl and fought for a perch as he listened carefully to the woman. 

"Of all the nerve, after I explicitly told them no magic, what in the _world could they have been thinking, so obviously doing a Cleaning Charm with an extra coat of varnish over everything, it's like they were being smart-alecks right to my face, I'll find them, oh, yes, I will!" She stormed towards the door, chuckling a little bit disconcertingly and still muttering. She pushed the door open, and all of a sudden, a bucketful of liquid wax (obviously magically melted; it wasn't hot) poured onto her and hardened instantly. _

A half hour later, McGonagall was still stuck there, having been powerless to stop a few owls from flying out of the room, some of them landing on her. All of a sudden, an owl with startlingly blue plumage soared past and landed a few meters away on the floor. It looked around, and, seeing nobody but the human candle, changed forms into a large blue hound dog and began sniffing for a trail. 

The Marauders each took a handful of dust and started plastering themselves with it. "Come on, join in, Lily!" called Peter. 

She glared icily at them. "I'm very, very, very allergic to dust mites, and I don't have a handkerchief. Are you trying to kill me?" 

"Allergies are all in your imagination, everyone knows that!" said a very grey Sirius. 

Quickly, Lily changed tactics. "Even if they are, it's just filthy! The Shrieking Shack must be centuries old; who knows how long that dust has been collecting?" 

"Oh, don't be such a….such a _prefect, will you?" _

Looking at James with his hair even more askew than usual, streaked with dust, and still grinning like an idiot, Lily couldn't help but break into a smile. "Look who's talking! You're a prefect, too!" 

"At least I don't act like it!" He picked up an old dictionary, covered with the fine grey powder, and closed it with a puff of dust…right in Lily's face. 

The coughing fit that ensued knocked Lily back next to the open trunk behind her. "That was – cough – uncalled for!" She didn't really mind, though. 

"Ever so sorry," he joked, extending a hand to help her up. "Actually, it's not really my fault…you only imagined the allergy, so you just imagined that you coughed, so maybe you're not really on the floor." 

Lily picked up one of the old, dusty comforters that she had fallen on and heaved it towards James, clambering out without any help. "Well, in that case, maybe that blanket isn't on you." 

Quite at a loss for anything to say, James stuttered for a second, then said, "Erm…maybe it is." 

Sirius was laughing silently and scribbling on a piece of parchment. He folded up the parchment and put it in his pocket, watching the pair staring at each other, just trying to figure out some kind of response to James's last comment. "Jeez," he couldn't help saying, "James, this is torture for me, you know that, right?" 

The tension broken and a new point of contention created between Lily's mind and heart, the Marauders set about dusting themselves (and Lily) again. When they had all been coated from head to toe, Remus said, "Ready, everyone?" 

Three voices said, "Ready!" and one said, "Ready for what?" 

"One…two…three!" The four boys started screaming and yelling and making as much horrible noise as possible. 

Lily's hands flew up to her ears as she tried to talk above them. "You guys, what are you _doing?!?" _

Sirius picked up an old vase and, just before smashing it, spoke to Lily in a lowered voice. "Look out the window!" 

"What?" 

SMASH! "Just go to the window and look out, then keep walking past the windows." 

"You're crazy!" 

CRASH! BANG! Remus and Peter had just, through a joint effort, toppled the chest of drawers. "Just do it, Lily!" 

It was sheer curiosity that made Lily go to the window and peek out, even opening it a little to let the December-chilled night air in. A small crowd of people, all in their pajamas, had gathered on the sidewalk in front of the wrought-iron gate. At the appearance of Lily's ghostly face in the window of the Shrieking Shack, they screamed and ran back into their houses, leaving behind a dog that was – it could have been a trick of the moonlight – bright blue. It threw back its head and howled as though it had found a squirrel, then turned into a stack of huge cue cards. 

REMEMBER ME? 

THINK MIRRORS

THINK SHAPE-SHIFTER

THINK ANYONE 

THINK ANYWHERE

THINK ANYTIME

I TOLD YOU I COULD FIND YOU

Then, the shape-shifter that Lily now recognized as Kipper turned into a faintly glowing gnat and made its way towards the window. She whirled around and yelled to the Marauders. "Stop! We've got to get out of here!" 

"Loosen UP! We're not going to get caught!" 

"That's _not why we've got to get out of here!" She grabbed Sirius by the shoulders and pushed him towards the window, pointing at the speck of quickly advancing blue light. "It's that shape-shifter from the mirrors!" _

"Kipper's back?" It was one of the few times that Lily had ever seen Sirius look scared. "Back to Hogwarts, everyone!" 

The next morning, a group of first-year Ravenclaw girls emerged from behind a large tapestry, chatting happily. One of them suddenly looked over her shoulder and told the crowd that she had forgotten her Defense Against the Dark Arts book and would be right back. She jogged back to the common room and, when she re-emerged, got a bit lost. Pamela Vancouver was extremely nervous about being in the hallways alone, ever since the incident the other day with the giant chess pawn. She anxiously tried to picture the route to the Great Hall, gawking at an elaborate stone carving embedded in the wall. 

"Mmmm Vnnnvrrr! Grrrmmmrrfhrrrr!" Pamela froze. What was making that muffled screaming sound? She turned around slowly and let out a terrified squeak. There was a huge lump of wax just outside the Owlery door, emitting something that sounded like an attempt at speech. 

The little girl backed slowly down the adjacent hallway, barely gathering her voice. "P-p-p-professor Sinistra!!! HELP!!!" 

The Head of Ravenclaw House, Professor Sinistra, immediately notified Dumbledore of the "huge ugly monster" near the Owlery and divulged her personal opinion that Miss Vancouver had been overreacting when she claimed that it had attacked her. Pamela, for the second time in as many days, was led to the Hospital Wing to recover, and Dumbledore was left to investigate. 

He strode through the hall, his wand held casually out in front of him. More than likely, it was some suit of armor playing a joke, or Peeves, perhaps. He rounded the corner and was, admittedly, very surprised. "Why, Minerva…I must say that white is a very nice color on you." 

The five suspects were gathered in Dumbledore's office. The Headmaster paced back and forth behind his desk, moving his eyes from one to the other, then sat down. "So, according to your story, you neither used the Cleaning Charm nor rigged that bucket to dump wax on Professor McGonagall." 

Sirius shrugged. "All I can say is that I envy the great mind who thought of the wax…not that I would have done that if I had thought of that, because, as you know, I'm not impulsive and troublesome like that." 

Lily hadn't said a word the whole time. She felt bad enough about using the Cleaning Charm, but now to lie about it, and to know that the Marauders must be lying about setting the trap, was grinding her conscience raw. 

"We really filled our detention, Headmaster," James said, with a sincere look that even Lily almost fell for. "Afterwards, we went right back to the common room. You can even ask Lily." He turned to her. "Did we put the bucket up there?" 

She looked up and stared at James as though to say 'I can't believe you're asking me that,' then looked at Dumbledore. "As far as I know, it wasn't them." 

Dumbledore actually looked angry, but his tone was even. "Perhaps, then, you can tell me what _this was doing suspending the bucket from a candle sconce." He threw James's Invisibility Cloak onto the desk. Everyone stared at it. _

"Very disappointing," Dumbledore said shortly. "First of all, I have no reason to believe that your story is, in any sense, true. Fifty-five points from Gryffindor. From now on, your titles as Prefects are on probation. You three…" he indicated Peter, Sirius, and Remus. "You three have two detentions apiece." 

There was silence in the room. Dumbledore was almost as enraged as Lily. The Marauders all looked at James. It must have been him, they all thought. They all knew that it wasn't them, so it had to be James. James just wondered who had stolen his cloak. 

Lily shivered and pulled the Quidditch robes tighter around her shoulders. Honestly, why would anyone keep a game scheduled when it was this cold? Miserable grey clouds dragged ominously across the sky, and Lily could see her breath. What if it started snowing in the middle of the game? 

"_Perfect weather!" James gushed. _

Brendan shot him a glare from over chattering teeth. "Perfect? The bloody temperature's below zero!" 

"It's going to snow, you know that, right?" 

James held up a hand to stop the complaining. "Which is exactly why it's perfect. The air is never clearer than right before a December snowstorm. We'll be able to see for miles around, and we've even been training on foggy days! Attitude is everything!" 

"Attitude? I'll give you an attitude!" 

"Right, how about a quitting attitude?" 

"Or an attitude that says to shut your scientific gob and go talk to the referee about postponing the match?" 

"Actually, he does have a point." 

Everyone stared daggers at Lily. Eva Sinclair visibly gripped her Beater's club and growled. "Really? Go on…explain." 

"Er…well, I just sort of heard once that visibility's always best on cold days…" Her voice trailed off as Eva appeared to be aiming the club at her nose. "Or not." 

James threw a broomstick to Quinn Baker. "Are we going to talk or are we going to win this game?" 

The team rolled their eyes, and Michael Daehn started towards the field. "Neither. We're about to be the first Quidditch team actually frozen to their brooms." 

Red and yellow uniforms fluttered in the gathering wind as the two teams kicked off. James started flying in lazy circles around the Quidditch pitch, as usual. His strategy was always to begin the game as though he was the worst Seeker ever born, then, as soon as he sighted the Snitch, turn into a spectacular flyer. 

Ella Bourassa's magically magnified voice rang across the field. "And Lena Riley of Gryffindor takes hold of the Quaffle! She ducks a Bludger and speeds towards Hufflepuff's goals…why isn't anyone following her? Lena Riley of Gryffindor with a CLEAR SHOT at the Hufflepuff goals! HELLO!! YOU MORONS! SHE'S ALREADY SCORED TWICE!!" 

The Hufflepuff team, along with the Gryffindor team, was distracted by the fact that their broomsticks had all decided not to move. They tried every trick they knew, but the brooms were simply frozen. Lily was the only one who had noticed the neon blue mist that surrounded the tails of every broom. Michael Daehn cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled to James, "I told you!" 

Kipper finally reached Lena Riley's broom, so that every player on the field was simply immobilized. Lily leaned down until she was almost flat on her broomstick and whispered, hoping that Kipper would hear her. "Do you think it was a _mistake that we left you in the mirrors?" _

The familiar blue ball with a face on it re-appeared with a pop in front of Lily's nose. "Nope. That's why I'm tormenting you." It smiled hugely and turned around. "Hmm…maybe I should just let the brooms go as soon as they're all doing the all-purpose set-in-motion-at-top-speed spell that you're actually not supposed to use…" 

"Don't!" 

Kipper turned back towards Lily and crossed his newly-sprouted arms. "I think I will…unless you say that you're sorry." 

"What are you talking about?" 

"You hurt my feelings when you left me in that big scary maze!" He said indignantly. "I think that you owe me an apology!" 

Lily sighed. "All right, I'm sorry." 

"That doesn't count." 

"What?" 

"You weren't sincere." 

"What more do you want? I'm sorry. I wish that I could go back and change what I said. I would rather go plummeting to the ground right now than live another second with the guilt I feel from leaving you behind. Is _that good enough?" _

Despite the absence of shoulders, Kipper shrugged. "It'll have to do. I expect a four-page apology written by tomorrow morning, though, and please include the words 'ungrateful wretch' in it." 

The irritation disappeared, as did the mist surrounding all the broomsticks. A collective sigh of relief was breathed by the crowd, and Ella Bourassa kept commentating. "Well, whatever the heck _that was, it's done with, thank goodness…let's see, Tommy Rillton of Hufflepuff blocks Lena Riley's next shot, throws it to Chaser Irene Hamilton….Irene Hamilton of Hufflepuff intercepted by a well-aimed bludger, hit by Eva Sinclair of Gryffindor! She drops the Quaffle, only to be caught by Quinn Baker, flying quickly underneath her…he dodges another Bludger rather skillfully, tosses the Quaffle to Michael Daehn, and Gryffindor scores again…The score is now Hufflepuff, zero, and Gryffindor, fifty. Well, here's an interesting twist, ladies and gentlemen…the Hufflepuffs seem to have a new strategy. It looks like now they're actually aiming to win. There's a novel idea! WHY DIDN'T YOU THINK OF THAT WHEN LENA RILEY WAS AT THE GOAL, SCORING FOUR TIMES IN A ROW, EH?" _

Lily was surprised by the adrenaline rush that came from actually playing in a Quidditch match. A Hufflepuff Chaser, Brittany Morrison, was holding the Quaffle tightly under one arm as she weaved through the Gryffindors towards the goal. Brendan Christenson wasn't quite alert; he was circling the bottom of the goalposts on his broom, not paying any attention to what was going on above him. Lily suddenly realized that his broom had turned blue. She turned around and drew back her Beater's club, her eye fixed on the oncoming Bludger. The angle was right, but Brittany was a long distance away…could she hit it that far? With a fantastic THWAP, the club connected with the miniature cannonball, sending it zooming through the air. 

"Great hit by Beater Lily Evans," Ella said grudgingly. "Yes, wonderful job, it's going right at her…OW! Oooh, that's got to hurt…" The crowd let out a collective groan on behalf of Brittany Morrison, who appeared to have a dislocated shoulder. She had dropped the Quaffle, and the game continued. Ella Bourassa, however, seemed more focused on the well-being of the Hufflepuff Chaser. "Why isn't she landing? Oh, that's right…she's all right, folks, Brittany's double-jointed!" 

The game continued with Brendan Christenson a bit out of commission because of his "defective" broomstick, and about ten minutes later, when the score was Gryffindor, seventy, and Hufflepuff, ninety, and Lily had thwarted at least six more attempts at a Hufflepuff goal, out of the corner of her eye, she saw James break his orbit. 

"And that's James Potter of Gryffindor flying like a maniac over towards the canopy on Ravenclaw's stands! He's spotted the Snitch, and it doesn't look like he's going to let anyone else get at it first! Uh-oh…here comes Matthew Nolan of Hufflepuff, also looking pretty determined! They're neck and neck! I don't know if they're at the Snitch yet, but…" 

The crowd let loose with a bellow of "FOUL!" as Matthew Nolan, completely disregarding the Snitch, slammed sidelong into James to throw him off course. James, however, did a 90-degree turn, ducked under Nolan, and sped after the Snitch, which had suddenly streaked towards the Slytherin stands. 

"And Potter's all right! He doesn't seem to want to collect on that foul! He's kept his eye on the Snitch, and he's racing for it! He's all the way forward on his broomstick….reaching out his hand…YES! HE'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH!!!!!" 

James took a victory lap around the stadium, waving his clenched fist in the air and letting his ego soar on the audience's cheering. Determined to end this ritual, Lily turned around and called to Eva Sinclair. "Come on!" Puzzled, Eva followed her to a position immediately behind James, and before long, the rest of the team caught on. The entire Gryffindor Quidditch team was tailgating on James's ego trip, and he didn't even know it until they landed. 


	59. Prelude

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 59_

Two weeks had passed since the Quidditch match. Despite the team's predictions, it had not started snowing during the game. No, the clouds held their peace until everyone was already back in the castle, enjoying dinner immensely, at which point the skies let loose with a violent yet beautiful blizzard that lasted four days. 

Hagrid was constantly occupied with maintaining the Hogwarts Express, which would be needed to transport the students home for the winter holidays. On the day that the students were scheduled to leave for home, the snow-spangled giant burst shivering into the Great Hall during lunchtime. Fang skittered in behind him and curled up underneath the High Table. 

"Brrrrr! 'S cold enough out there t'give a snow dwarf the sniffles! Hand me that pitcher o' mead, wouldja, Headmaster?" 

Professor McGonagall gawked at Hagrid's disorderly conduct, but Dumbledore remained quite calm as he passed the pitcher. "Things going well, Hagrid?" 

The huge man took a gulp directly out of the pitcher, wiped the back of his sleeve across his mouth in lieu of a napkin, and smacked his lips in a very satisfied way. Professor McGonagall looked pale. "Goin' great, Dumbledore, sir. But I dunno how much longer we c'n keep it up – this snow's goin' ta turn ta rain, an' that'll freeze over, then we'll 'ave a right mess on our 'ands if it happens too soon, eh?" Another gigantic guzzle from the pitcher of mead, and he rose again. "Well, gotta be gettin' back out there. Can't 'ave a frosty train, right? Er, listen, mind if I leave Fang 'ere for a bit? 'e's jus' getting' over a cold, so the snow's not doin' 'im much good." 

Fang assumed Hagrid's position in the chair and began eating from the golden plate before him. Professor McGonagall watched the spectacle for a stunned second, then got up, threw her napkin pointedly onto the table, and strode out with a look of disgust on her face. 

All four of the Marauders watched McGonagall walk away, then exchanged glances that seemed to contain sincere awe. 

"What?" Juno inquired, looking from one to the other. 

Remus shook his head. "It's the same every time McGonagall meets up with Hagrid or Fang. They annoy her more without trying to than we have in our entire lives of trying." 

"We sort of look to them as role models," James explained. 

"Shining examples," Peter chimed in, "of irritation. Except for one thing." 

Sirius beamed. "We've got the map, and thus, a way to get in and out of Hogsmeade illegally." 

Lily thought for awhile, then addressed them collectively. "If you have the map, that puts them at a relative disadvantage, right? So you have even _less of an excuse for not getting under McGonagall's skin as much as them." _

"Hmmph!" Sirius put on a haughty face and got up from the table. "I don't have to stand here and be insulted!" 

"That's right; you can go anywhere and be insulted." 

He grinned at Lily's scathing comment, leaning over the back of his chair. "Ah, but I don't have just anywhere in mind." Sirius pointed towards the Hufflepuff table. "You see that girl over there? I'm asking her to be my dancing partner at the Christmas dance." Without another word, he walked off and disappeared somewhat when a gaggle of first years went past. 

Remus was still craning his neck around, trying to see the girl. "Nope…I don't see her. Do any of you?" 

"No."

"Maybe she's invisible."

"Or imaginary." 

"I guess Padfoot's got himself an imaginary girlfriend!" This concept drew some brief laughter, which died off into a decidedly awkward silence, though Lily couldn't understand why it was awkward. 

Remus was looking pointedly at James, who cleared his throat and turned to Peter. "So….have you asked anyone yet?" 

"Mm-hmm," Peter said through a mouthful of tuna fish sandwich. He swallowed and kept going. "Remember Gilderoy Lockhart? He moved, so I asked that Ravenclaw girl he was going with, Jessica." 

"And she said yes?? Hmm, guess there's no accounting for taste," Remus joked. 

Peter scowled. "You should talk, Moony. Do you have a date yet?" 

"Wait, I'm confused," Lily interrupted. "There's not a ball, is there?" 

"No, Madam Rosmerta's having a Christmas dance at the Three Broomsticks, and you're not really allowed in if you don't have a dance partner. Floating mistletoe and all that," Peter laughed. 

"It's supposed to be a great party." Remus looked across the table at Juno. "Would you mind going with me?" She gave him a look somewhere between lead-melting and plague-bearing. "Just as friends," he added hastily. 

Juno appeared to be thinking it over. "All right, sure. But I'm bringing a weed-whacker for the mistletoe." 

The conversation rolled on. Lily drummed her fingers on the tablecloth absentmindedly and glanced out the window at the cascading snow. Sirius must have set up housekeeping at the Hufflepuff table, because he wasn't back yet. She noticed how quiet James had become as soon as the subject jumped to the Christmas dance. Feeling somewhat foolish, she turned her head a little to look at James, but immediately turned back around with a jump in her stomach. He had definitely been looking at her. 

That evening, the Hogwarts Express left in perfect working order. Hagrid himself was on it, magically-bottomless buckets of hot water ready in case the train started freezing up. The sun had already set by the time it pulled out of the station, so all of the exhausted students made their way to their dormitories. 

Well, all but one. 

Lily wasn't sure if it was against the rules, seeing as it was the winter holiday, to be out of bed at night. She wasn't even sure if she cared. A curiosity had suddenly seized her about the towers at Hogwarts. If you looked at the castle from the outside, they were as numerous as upside-down icicles, clinging to the larger spires, but it had occurred to her that the only one she had ever seen from the inside was the Astronomy Tower. 

A sound echoed from down the hallway – it sounded vaguely like the screech of automobile tires and someone yelling an obscenity. She flattened herself against the wall and waited for whatever it was to go by. Peeves the Poltergeist was zooming backwards down the hall, spitting curses at the large blue monster truck that was chasing him. Lily stifled her laughter. Kipper was certainly shaking things up around here. 

She kept walking, looking for a set of spiral stairs. The Astronomy Tower had spiral stairs leading up to it, so why should another tower be any different? It must have been a good ten minutes before she saw one. She checked the banister for the characteristic moon-and-star symbol that signified the Astronomy Tower and was delighted to see that she had indeed found a new tower. For a second, Lily hesitated, her foot already on the first step. This was not like the impulsive Lily that many would deem her, but time and unpleasant experience had forced her to learn caution. Honestly, she thought. What could happen? Nobody could Apparate or Disapparate in Hogwarts, and she had checked plenty of times to make sure she hadn't been followed. Even if someone had followed her, what were they going to do, steal from her? She could fend for herself. 

After a slightly dizzying climb, Lily found herself on a circular wooden landing in a low room with three large windows. The first one, the one immediately in front of her, looked out over the greenhouses and the Forbidden Forest. The one to her left showed the ice-covered lake, shining like a mirror in the moonlight, and the deceptively calm Whomping Willow. Presently, the huge tree, looking almost irritated, shook its branches free of snow. Everything seemed to be sleeping dreamily under a blanket of crushed diamonds. This, it seemed, was how the Christmas holidays were meant to begin. With an irrepressible beam of contentment, she turned to see the third window, and instead saw James Potter materialize. 

"James!" she said, a little louder than she had intended. Then, quieter, "What are you doing here?" 

He grinned. "Following you. I just figured you'd probably get into some kind of trouble, knowing your history." 

She couldn't help but smile back. "I guess you could call me a work in progress. Have you ever been up here before?" 

"No, believe it or not. I knew it was here, of course, because of the map, but Sirius actually put the map together. I just juiced it up; the moving dots and everything." 

"Oh." 

They looked out the third window. It was tilted upwards so that the North Star was in its upper left-hand corner, and you couldn't see anything out of it except the stars. James broke the silence. "Yeah, Sirius said that this tower had the best view in the whole school." He shrugged. "I wouldn't know." 

"I sort of like the view from my dormitory window. You can see some of the buildings in Hogsmeade from there, you know." 

"Really? Huh." Silence again. He took a deep breath, then let it out. "Listen, Lily…you know that Christmas dance Madam Rosmerta's planning?" 

"Mm-hmm." Lily tried to act like she didn't know where this was going. 

"Well, I was wondering if you'd like to go with me." 

Right, she thought. He couldn't mean it as a date, so she reminded herself not to misinterpret James's words. "Sure, James." She could pretend it was a date. Maybe that would be as good as the real thing. 

A few silent seconds later, Lily felt James's hand hesitate, then settle over hers on the window ledge. "I was also wondering if you'd like to go as more than just friends."

_(A/N):  **Please review!  We love them and we only got a few for the last chapter. *Grins evilly* And who knows, maybe chapter 60 will be out sooner if you do.  **_


	60. Before the Christmas Dance

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

_A/N: *cheerily* Guess what? We're implementing a new system! Or at least, we're trying to…both a classier look (gotta love that .htm file!) and faster gratification for you lovely readers/reviewers! And remember: We're review junkies, please feed our addiction. _

_We're also officially 60 this chapter!!! _

**Lily**

Chapter 60

"Will you please hurry up, Lily?" Juno called up the dormitory stairs. "We're going to be late, and if they've already played all the good songs by the time we get there, I'm blaming you!" 

"I'll be right down; I just need to finish my hair!" She was twisted around and bent backwards in such a way that she could see what she was doing in the mirror. The downside was that she couldn't really move. With a sigh of exasperation and a prayer of thanks that she was a witch, Lily picked up her wand and did a Protocol Hairspell, which automatically judged the situation for what hairstyle would be best. When she looked back in the mirror, her hair had been entwined into two braids, then magically pinned up at the nape of her neck. It was certainly strange, but it somehow worked. She smoothed out her shimmery tan dress robes and checked proudly to make sure that no lipstick had gotten on her teeth. Lipstick was a new addition for her – she had never found the occasion to wear it before, even for a school dance. 

Juno, Peter, Remus, Sirius, and James were already waiting in the common room. According to Sirius and Peter, they had instructed their dates to wait outside the Great Hall for them. "We can't just go common room-hopping for them," Sirius had explained. "We'd get caught for sure. Besides, Prongs found a new secret passage right near the Great Hall entrance." 

Considering Lily's previous luck with secret passages, she was a little bit nervous. But something told her to relax and enjoy the night. 

Remus held out his arm to Juno. "Shall we?" 

"You do a great impression of a gentleman," Juno said sarcastically, taking his arm. The pair climbed through the portrait hole. 

In a great impression of Remus's great impression of a gentleman, James offered his arm to Lily. "Here goes nothing, right?" 

"Oh, I'd say here goes SOMETHING," Sirius snickered, obviously trying to cover up his evil glee at the fact that Lily and James were finally an item. 

James rolled his eyes and grinned apologetically at Lily.  "Wanna let him loose for a minute?" 

"Sure, why not?"  She checked the common room clock.  "You have sixty seconds of 'I-told-you-so' time, starting…now."

"Muahahhahaha!!!!  I TOLD YOU SO!  I CALLED IT!  I knew it as SOOOON as you smacked him across the face in your first year.  I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I KNEW IT!  Everyone else knew it, too!  You just ask anyone – annnnyyyyooonnnee in this whole bloody school!  You two've practically got a prearranged marriage!  Not to mention the teachers.  Oooh, but Professor Lollio's going to go through the _roof when she hears about this!  But most importantly, I TOLD YOU SO!  Hehehehehehe – ooh, and here,"  Sirius reached into his pocket and fished out a scrap of parchment with writing all over it.  "Bet you don't know what I've been writing on THIS!  I think the time has come for its grand unveiling!  First entry-"_

Remus cleared his throat loudly.  "Time's up."  

"_What_?"  

"It's been exactly one minute, and you talk too much anyway.  Quite refreshing to actually be able to shut you up once in awhile," Peter said lazily.  

"And quite refreshing to be a nice big dog when you're a scrawny little rat once in awhile," Sirius muttered under his breath. 

It took awhile to get to the Great Hall, for a few reasons. The first was that, caught up in the moment, everyone had forgotten that they weren't exactly going for a nice legal stroll through the castle, so they needed to go under the cover of the Invisibility Cloak. 

"All of us?" Juno screeched. They had reconvened in the common room, since James had even forgotten to bring the cloak. 

"It'll be a tight squeeze, but I think we'll be all right," Remus evaluated. 

Juno sighed. "We should have one person go ahead, though, just to make it a little more comfortable. Besides, what if someone's coming and they hear us? We're going to sound like elephants." 

Lily was, of course, voted to be the most teacher-friendly out of the six, which is why she found herself sneaking through Hogwarts, apparently alone. After they were halfway to the Great Hall, she checked to see that the coast was clear, then turned around to address the air. "Okay, my turn under the cloak. Someone else can be the lookout for awhile." 

There was no answer. 

"Guys?" Her voice rose with panic. "This isn't funny!" She listened very closely, since she would at least hear breathing if they were there. There was nothing. "Oh, no," she muttered. Where could they have gone? Maybe they were already at the Great Hall, having a good laugh at her. Whatever was going on, it was definitely some kind of trick. Well, she wasn't going to fall for it! She leaned up against the wall, resolute to stay there until someone came by and found her. 

After five minutes, the darkness and silence and shadows got the best of her, so she decided to retrace her footsteps and listen for signs of her friends. A portrait of a very old, plump witch dressed in deep blue robes peered down at her. "Lost, are we?" 

Lily smiled back. "No, I'm just looking for some of my friends." 

"Hmm." The witch crossed her arms over her chest and regarded Lily suspiciously. "Don't think I was painted yesterday, y'know! 'Tis against the rules for students t'be gallivanting about at this hour of the night!" 

"No, really, I…er…I've got permission." She was astounded at herself. 

"Oh, really? From whom?" 

Lily looked down the hall, trying to invent a likely Professor. When she looked back, the portrait was empty except for a large blue armchair that the witch had presumably been sitting in. "Good riddance," she muttered. "Old busybody." 

The armchair blinked and, with a small pop, turned into a blue duck. It flew out of the frame and started speaking very quackingly. "Quite sorry to interrupt you an' all that, but you seemed t'be a mite lost!" 

"Kipper, would you leave me alone?" 

"Ah, stick it in your ear, Carrots!" He turned himself into a large blue chalkboard and drew four stick figures, apparently to symbolize the four Marauders, and one stick figure wearing a skirt – that was Juno. "If you're so bloody worried about your friends, chew on this, genius: Their dates are outside the Great Hall, right?" At the opposite corner of the chalkboard there appeared two skirted figures. Then, another materialized in the middle of the board, this one with plentiful question marks surrounding her head. 

"How did you –" 

"Don't interrupt! Now, if their dates are outside the Great Hall, and they can't go to the dance without their dates…" He had the patient, expectant tone of a teacher instructing a challenging student. 

"Oh!" She turned and started towards the Great Hall, calling over her shoulder as an afterthought. "Thanks!" 

It wasn't long before she heard Jessica's screeching voice echoing through the hallway. "Well, if they aren't going to show up on time, maybe we should just go back." 

"Yeah, maybe." The second voice must belong to Sirius's date, Anna, Lily thought. 

She rounded the corner and saw the two girls leaning against opposite walls. Jessica was picking at a green carnation set on her teal dress robes, looking rather bored and a little angry. Having heard Lily coming, she glanced up and crossed her arms over her chest. "All right. Where are they?" 

Anna twisted her neck to the side. "Who's this?" 

"Oh." Jessica gestured carelessly towards Lily. "James Potter's date. Her name's Lily." Immediately, she went back into interrogation mode. "So where-"

"Hi, I'm Anna." She extended her hand cordially. Anna wore sparkly, powder-blue robes. She was a tall, medieval beauty with long hair cascading in a shimmering gold waterfall down her slender back. Lily judged that she must be Muggle-born when a friendly smile exposed braces over her teeth. 

Lily shook her hand with a quick 'hello,' then turned to Jessica. "I don't know where they are. They sort of deserted me in the hallway back there, but don't worry. They'll be here…er, sooner or later." 

"Really? Well, hopefully it'll be sooner rather than later," Jessica said acidly. 

A huge black motorcycle prowled noiselessly through the halls of Hogwarts Castle with three sixth-year boys on the large seat and one girl of the same age perched atop the handlebars. Its gigantic shadow approached the eagle statue pushed against one wall. All of a sudden, the motorcycle stopped in midair, causing the girl on the handlebars to fall off with a loud thud. 

"Are you seriously that thick? Twice in one night?" 

"No, it was on purpose this time!" 

"You left him on _purpose_?" 

"Wouldn't you?" 

There was apparently a heated conversation going on, seeing as they did not even notice when a first-year Ravenclaw – Pamela Vancouver herself – peeked around the statue, wondering what the noise was. She watched with wide eyes as the motorbike dipped closer to the floor to allow the girl to climb back onto it, then proceeded towards the Great Hall. 

Little Pamela convinced herself that she was seeing things and scampered back to her bed. 

It was at least ten minutes of tedium until the three girls saw the giant motorcycle touch down just outside the Great Hall. Lily gaped. "What…how did-"

"I owled it to myself, bit by bit, over the summer," Sirius said with a grin. He hopped gallantly off the bike and took Anna's arm. 

She beamed in an overwhelmingly bubbly way. "Hi!" 

Remus started to help Juno down from the handlebars, but she brushed his hand aside. "D'you really think I need help getting down from there?" She noticed the slightly hurt look on his face and rolled her eyes. "Come on." 

James tried to act 'calm, cool, and collected.' His feelings, however, were given away by the nervous half-smile on his face. 

He moved towards Lily and started to hook his arm in hers, but then, as if on a second thought, he reached for a hand. "Thanks for coming with me," he whispered. 

"Thanks for inviting me," she said, blushing. 

"Wait a _damn_ minute!" Jessica shrieked. "Where's my date?" 

Lily looked down the hall. James, Sirius, Remus, and Juno were sliding rather wily looks towards each other. "What happened?" she demanded suspiciously. 

"Ask _him_." James shook his head and pointed towards Sirius. 

All eyes turned to the accused. Anna seemed to be suppressing a laugh, Jessica a growl. Sirius quailed, speaking in a small voice. "He was being so annoying."


	61. The Big Date

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**Lily**

_Chapter 61_

_A/N:  O M G, this is so late!  We originally planned on having this out two weeks ago, but due to circumstances beyond our control *Clara coughs: EVIL TEACHERS!!!* and a bad case of the giggles and writer's block combined, it was delayed quite a bit.  However, fear not; we're on prescription (peanut butter M&M's) for the writer's block, and the teachers are…*grins evilly as muffled screaming is heard from the closet*  …indisposed.  J/k, of course.  _

_Enjoy the chapter!_

**_DISCLAIMER – We own the plot, of course, but the setting is all JKR's.  As are most of the characters.  Juno, Jessica, Anna, Professor McBride, and all the wonderful personalities.  We'd like to give a shout-out to our muses, even though they haven't helped a goshdarn bit.  So, if y'all can hear us from that locked closet, we hope that you cough up the keys soon.  And when you do…watch out.  J_******

After Sirius had been prodded into retrieving Peter, he cleared his throat, getting the attention of the small group assembled outside the Great Hall.  

"Excuse me!  I know I told you all that we'd be taking a new secret passage, but I was about halfway here when I decided against it.  I think we deserve a…classier entrance."  He took out his wand, looked down the corridors for any Prefects or Professors, and grinned.  Two spells later, the motor on his bike was silenced and James's Invisibility Cloak could have covered a four-poster.  He climbed aboard, motioning for Anna to sit behind him.  "_Accio__!" he said with his wand pointing at the Invisibility Cloak.  _

All of a sudden, Sirius's plan seemed to settle in.  "Oh, don't even _think about it!" James just barely had time to yell before the motorcycle was invisible, inaudible, and probably halfway to the Three Broomsticks.  _

Remus sighed and gestured toward James, as though giving him the floor.  "Well, where's that secret passage?" 

The passage was blocked by one of the purple banners that hung vertically outside the Great Hall.  It was heavy material to shift to begin with, but then a slightly complex spell had to be performed that involved touching one's nose with the tip of one's tongue, and that took a good ten minutes to achieve.  Once the stone wall was made permeable, the spell had to be performed again to erase all signs of entrance.  "We've got to be really careful, though," James had warned, "Because if we don't do it right the second time, then the banner gets sliced in half, and it says right across the entranceway, 'secret  corridor right through here.'"  

They had been walking through the magically lit underground tunnel for five minutes when a thought suddenly struck Lily.  "How do we know?" 

"What?" 

"How do we know that the spell's right?  The one that can slice up the banner, I mean?" 

James stopped abruptly in his tracks and looked back down the passage.  He appeared to be thinking a great deal about whether they had indeed performed the spell correctly, then he turned back with a worried look on his face.  "I…I guess I never really thought about that before."  There was a long, uncomfortable pause in which everyone had visions of Filch cursing and screeching with delight when he found a secret passage that six students had used to sneak off the grounds.  

"I don't care!" Jessica suddenly blurted.  "I came to dance.  I didn't come to get my good dress robes filthy, I didn't come to worry about getting caught by that horrid Filch!  I came to have fun!  _I AM NOT HAVING FUN!!!!!!!"  Her angry words echoed down both sides of the tunnel as she turned on her heel and marched huffily towards Hogsmeade.  _

Sirius greeted them with a hearty "What took you so long?" to which James glared at him, leaving it at that (luckily for Sirius).  Then they sat down at the table that Sirius had saved for them, ordered a round of Butterbeers, and admired the decorations.  

Madam Rosmerta had truly gone all out for this party.  There was, of course, a charmed sprig of mistletoe that kept popping out of sight and reappearing between likely 'suspects.'  The round tables were draped with Christmas-patterned tablecloths and pushed out of the center so that there was a large dance floor cleared off.  A huge, extravagantly decorated pine tree seemed to be crooning the most popular dance tunes, but Lily was certain that it was only a Transfigured wireless, as she had never heard a tree that could impersonate so many famous singing witches and wizards (not to mention a few classical orchestra pieces).  Fairy lights and frost twinkled from every corner of the room, while Madam Rosmerta flirted and served customers (more the former than the latter) in mildly scanty yet dazzling red, white, and green robes.  

All of Jessica's animosity faded when they entered the beautiful pub, and she warmed up to Peter quite a bit, her words like the purrs of a tamed lion.  She beamed at her date with an expression much more suited to her round, slightly chubby face and tossed her shoulder-length blonde hair over one shoulder.  "This is _much better than any of the school dances, Peter."  _

"Er…" he seemed to be too baffled by her hasty personality change to get past 'er.'  

Anna was smiling broadly over Sirius, whose eyes were glued to his feet as they continued dancing exuberantly to a wizarding band called "The Bludgered Bananas."  Juno, Remus, Lily, and James didn't quite feel like dancing yet, but were content to engage in a four-way debate about The Bludgered Bananas.  Juno stood on principle; any social protest band was fine with her, but the fact that the Bludgered Bananas were five attractive young wizards, certainly didn't cool her feelings towards this band in particular.  She admitted, however, that their name was sort of odd.  Remus agreed that the lyrics were thought-provoking and significant, but he didn't really like their musical style.  On the opposite side, James said that he'd listen to Muggle garage band music if the words were good enough.  Lily, however, took issue with that.  

"You'd be better off reading poetry, if words are all you listen for in music," she said.

"Thank you!" Remus said, as though Lily was siding with him. 

Lily raised her eyebrows at him.  "Who said I thought _you were right?  Songs where people wanted to put words to the music, both things have to work out.  Both things have to…" she looked down at the table like she expected the right words to be written there and waited, half hoping that someone would finish her sentence for her.  Then, the perfect word rolled into her head, bounced off of her vocal cords, and through her teeth.  _

"Click," she and James said at the exact same time.  She turned to him, blushing and smiling from ear to ear.  At that moment, Lily could think of no greater danger in her world than the possibility that her self-control would break and she'd let loose with the giggle that was building up inside, threatening to shrill out of her chest like a seven-year-old girl on the playground.  

Whoever won the argument, it was quickly a moot point when The Bludgered Bananas' song gave way to one Lily had never heard before.  Everyone else in the pub apparently had, however, if one could judge by the raucous cheer that ripped through the patrons at its beginning.  The tables quickly emptied as everyone made their way to the dance floor.  James waved at Madam Rosmerta, who winked back before joining the dance, then caught Lily by the hand and started to follow the crowd.  "She really knows when to break out the big guns, get everyone dancing.  C'mon, let's go." 

Lily stared at everybody, desperately trying to remember whether she had ever heard the song or seen the dance.  It sounded like a combination of swing, jazz, folk, and rock, except that the beat was placed so strangely that Lily couldn't even tap her foot to it.  "James, I don't think…" 

"What?" they were on the dance floor now, and they had to shout to be heard.  

She raised her voice and stood on her tiptoes so as to be closer to his ear.  "I don't think I know this one!"  

For a second, he looked puzzled, but then it dawned on him.  "Ohh!  I forgot!  You've never heard the Fortossa before because you're Muggle-born!"  He grinned and pulled her further onto the dance floor, now yelling at the top of his lungs over the roar of the music.  "Don't worry, you'll pick it up in a few seconds.  It's one of the oldest wizarding dances in the world, and it's impossible for Muggles to dance to it…not that you're a Muggle!  Muggle-borns who've never heard it have trouble, too!  But like I said, you'll catch on!"  

"I'll take your word for it!"  Lily managed to say between gasps for air.  This dance was so fast-paced and confusing that she understood how some people found it 'impossible' to dance to.  Gradually, though, she managed to 'catch onto' the complicated sequence of stomps, clamps, twirls, and infinite combinations of steps.  By the middle of the song, she felt relatively confident that she'd make it to the end without getting trampled.  "How long _is this?" she shouted to James.  _

"Just another five minutes," he said, as though five more minutes of the wild dance was no big deal.  

They finished a complex spin as Lily sighed wearily.  It was fun, but how could anything this long stay fun?  

What seemed like a billion moves later, time wasn't bothering Lily anymore.  The Fortossa wasn't stress, it wasn't anything new, it was natural.  She felt like she had been dancing this since she could walk.  The cadence seemed as simple as taking a breath.  Just when Lily had decided that she could go on dancing forever, the song ended abruptly.  

She looked around.  Was there some sort of problem with the Christmas tree?  Maybe a snowstorm had blocked the wireless up?  The way the dance had ended didn't feel like it ended.  She was about to ask these questions when the next song, a much slower one, started.  

"I forgot to tell you about the ending," James said.  "Even I still get surprised. I think everyone does."  

After three more songs, Sirius started a mosh pit by shoving a rather large wizard as hard as he could.  The huge man gazed severely at him through bespectacled eyes and shoved him right back.  Luckily for Sirius, the crowd behind them managed to catch him, then began to shove each other.  Lily and James managed to escape the shove-fest, taking refuge at the table while Madam Rosmerta tried to break up the mosh pit.  

Lily sipped the Butterbeer and hesitated before tapping James on the shoulder.  "D'you want to keep doing this?" 

"Keep doing what?" 

"Keep being more than just friends."  

"Oh!" It looked like he knew exactly what he wanted to say, but wasn't sure if he should say it.  

For some reason, she thought that he was trying to think up a way to let her down easy.  "Never mind," she said hurriedly.  

"No, wait, I'd really love to.  It's just…wouldn't you say that we're friends, Lily?" 

"Well, yeah."  

"Maybe I'm just being stupid, but I think it might be hard to keep being friends if and when we stopped being more than just friends."  James laughed nervously at himself.  "I know that doesn't make too much sense."  

"No, it makes a lot of sense."  There were a few seconds of silence as Madam Rosmerta dragged Sirius off the dance floor by the ear and gave him an extremely thorough talking-to.  She punctuated her chastisement with a stern smack upside the head.  Apparently, Sirius's brain cells were already too dull to feel the pain, because he just shrugged and went back to the dance floor without causing any trouble.  Lily looked back at James.  "I think we should at least try, don't you?" 

He smiled at her.  "Yeah.  We should."  

Halfway down the Charms corridor, a golden mist shimmered placidly from about five feet off the ground.  It had apparently been placed there by the Ellernec spell, except that there was just a touch of blue around its edges.  Any wizard with an eye for Charms would recognize that this was no ordinary Ellernec cloud.

Divination Professor McBride was a ghastly old crone of a teacher who was quite sick of the students' annoying questions, their incompetence, and most of all, she was sick of how they all presumed that they had the Inner Eye.  Sixty-four years she had been teaching, sixty-four years!  The first few decades were all right, but it just got old after sixty-four years!  The frustration had been keeping the old witch up nights, and it was in another one of these sleepless nights that she stormed out of her office and made her way to Professor Dumbledore, determined to quit.  

As she stormed down the Charms corridor, cursing with a heavy brogue, Professor McBride was too preoccupied (or it could have been that she'd forgot her glasses) to notice the Ellernec cloud.  It was a long time since she'd studied this sort of thing, anyway, so she had no idea how to reverse the spell once she ran through it and suddenly found the hallway flipped upside-down.  

"ACCK!"  She screeched at the top of her creaky voice. "AAACK!  'ELP ME!  GET ME DOWN FROM 'ERE!  SOMEBODY BETTER GET OUTTA THEIR LAZYBONES BED AN' HELP A POOR OL' LADY DOWN FROM THE BLINKIN' CEILING!!!  OOOH, CURSE THE DAY I JOINED UP WITH THIS 'ERE SCHOOL!"  

Professor McBride went on like this until she was quite hoarse and couldn't speak above a whisper.  She stood frozen on the spot, utterly disoriented, and reached back into her long but rapidly decaying memory for a countercurse.  After all, this must be some spiteful student's hex, right?  The only thing she could bring to mind was an Ellernec cloud, but this couldn't be an Ellernec cloud.  Those let their victims down after two hours.  

After extensive battling with James, Sirius reluctantly shrunk his motorcycle down to toy-size and carried it back in the pocket of his robes.  Oddly enough, her date's 'free spirit' didn't seem to bother Anna; quite the contrary, it was as if she liked him more because of it.  Jessica, though thrilled to death by the ornate Three Broomsticks décor, wasn't as absorbed with Peter.  She pried Anna off of Sirius's arm once they were back at the castle and pulled her down the hall, shouting something over her shoulder about being able to find their own common rooms and not needing escorts.  Anna blew a kiss to Sirius, which he caught and flirtatiously put in his pocket with the motorcycle.  

When they had reached the Gryffindor common room, Juno swept up the stairs without a word to Remus.  "Hey!" he called after her. "What was that for?" 

They heard her yell sarcastically from the top of the stairs, "What? I had fun.  If you wanted a kiss or something, you probably should have asked to go as more than friends.  Just for future reference!"  The dormitory door clicked shut, and Remus turned around, stunned, to face the snickering group. 

"I didn't…a _kiss, of course not…just…I…" Convinced that there was nothing he could say that would stop his fellow Marauders from laughing, he fell into a blushing silence.  _

As if on cue, Sirius and Peter frog-marched Remus up the stairs.  "Love to stay and chat, but we've got some pillows waiting for us.  You two can occupy yourselves…"  It might've just been James's imagination, but it looked like Sirius winked at him before disappearing into the dormitory.  

They walked over to the couch and sat down.  It suddenly occurred to Lily that when Sirius made jokes about her and James, she couldn't say 'we're just friends' anymore.  To her surprise, she liked knowing that.  

"Did you have fun?" James asked awkwardly. 

"Definitely!  The most fun I've had in a long time."  She remembered, very vividly, thinking those exact words in her first year, when she went to a ball with James as 'just friends.'  That evening had ended with them getting attacked by bats.  Hopefully, nothing of the sort would happen now…she laughed out loud at how random that thought seemed: 'gee, I hope we don't get dive-bombed by bats.'  

"What's so funny?"  He smiled; that half-smile that made Lily feel very giggly.  

"Er, nothing…I was just thinking."  

"That _is pretty funny."  _

She bopped him ruthlessly with a pillow.  "That's just mean!"    

"Hey!"  He grabbed the pillow and stood up with it.  "I think I'd better confiscate this.  It's as good as a deadly weapon in your hands."  

Lily stood up, too, and snatched the pillow back, only to throw it back onto the couch.  "Consider it confiscated."  

"Are you my girlfriend?" he blurted, completely out of the blue.  

"What?  I mean, I guess so...only if you're my boyfriend."  

"Okay, then.  I just wanted to clear that up."  They stood completely still for a few seconds.  Then James took a step towards Lily.  She wondered if he was going to kiss her, but was very relieved when he just hugged her tightly.  

Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  This had to be better than any kiss.  Besides, there was plenty of time for kissing later.  They let go of each other.  "See you tomorrow, James."  

"'Night," he said, walking up the dormitory stairs.  

Lily turned around and found her way to her bed, feeling distinctly and pleasantly star-struck.  


	62. Christmas Surprises

A/N: Okay!  Okay okay okay!  This is ALMOST inexcusably late.  Almost.  However, there is a very good excuse, and I believe it can be summed up in two words: 

**EXAMS       VACATIONS**

Thank you. 

Disclaimer:  We own the plotline and some fishing line, and JK owns just about everything else.  

**Lily**

_Chapter 62_

_Dear Miss Evans, _

_            Please report to Headmaster Dumbledore's office immediately. _

_Sincerely, _

**_Professor McGonagall_**

Lily looked up from the letter, puzzled.  It had been deposited unobtrusively at the foot of her bed, between a large package of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and a colorful card from Sirius.  She moved her thumb a bit and noticed that the ink smeared; the note had just been written.  "Juno, what d'you think-"

"No idea," Juno said, holding up an almost identical piece of parchment, "But I've got one, too."  

Lily swung her legs over the side of the bed with a sigh.  "Guess we'd better be going, then."  She disappeared into the closet to find her robe.  

Juno looked wistfully at the pile of unopened presents at the bottom of her own bed.  "Maybe we could wait a little while?  Dumbledore wouldn't care, would he?  I mean, it's Christmas." 

"Well, I guess we don't have much choice, unless we want to get detention.  C'mon."  Lily came back out of the closet, securing the light green bathrobe around her waist. 

Throwing on her own robe and following Lily down the dormitory stairs, Juno grumbled, "Honestly, who in God's name would take the time to write those notes on Christmas morning?  Waste of perfectly good ink, if you ask me." 

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, Lily almost forgot her confusion when they literally ran into…

"James!"  She hugged him immediately, unable to contain her excitement.  After about two seconds, however, she realized that not only Juno, but the rest of the Marauders as well had their smirking faces aimed directly at her and James.  She stepped back, blushing.  "What are you all doing down here so early?" 

Sirius grinned.  "Ah, I believe the question is, what were _you two-" he waggled his eyebrows at James.  "Doing down here so __late?" _

"Sirius?" Remus said, obviously not in the best of moods. 

"Yes?" 

"Stuff it."  He turned back to Lily.  "We all got Christmas presents from McGonagall – notes telling us to report to Dumbledore's office." 

"Us, too," Juno said.  

There was a brief silence in the room.  Everyone slowly realized what must have happened…they fixed their gaze on the person who was to blame…and Sirius suddenly found himself in the direct path of five extremely angry sets of eyes.  His voice cracked, barely managing a weak "Erm…" 

  "Is that _all you can say???"  Juno screeched.  "That RUDDY motorcycle!  You just HAD to take it for a hover through the hallways, didn't you?  Did you even __THINK that __SOMEONE might have __SEEN it?  NO!  And now I'm missing out on Christmas morning because of that sodding, bloody, quadruple-damned motorcycle!  Let's __go, and do __not even THINK about talking to me on the way there.  Or the way back, for that matter!" _

When they got to McGonagall's office, there were three people waiting for them.  Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, of course, but to Dumbledore's right sat a very shaken-up Professor McBride, who had her spindly arms crossed sourly over her chest.  She leaped up upon their arrival, pointing a bony finger at Juno.  "That's 'er, it is!  That's the little toadspawn wot's allus makin' trouble in me class!  She'd-a done this outta spite, make no mistake, 'eadmaster!"  

Dumbledore looked calmly at Professor McBride.  "Francisca, I'll ask you to please sit down and stop making rash judgments without evidence."

As the old woman reluctantly sat back into her seat, Lily decided that she must have been the one who spotted them on the motorcycle.  But what had the Divination teacher been doing down that corridor at that hour of the night?  

"From the looks on your faces," Dumbledore began, "I have no choice but to assume that you all know why you are here."  Six heads nodded.  "I see.  Then I must also assume that you know you must be punished."  Once again, all nodded.  Dumbledore sighed and sat back.  "This is very disappointing.  But, of course, the individual punishment must fit the crime.  The only thing that now remains to be seen is which of you actually conjured that quintuple-strength Ellernec cloud."  

Lily snapped her head up from where she'd been staring at the floor guiltily and looked down the row at Sirius.  Peter, Remus, James, and Juno were doing the same.  Sirius shrank down in his chair and said in a very small voice, "Why is everyone looking at me?"

"Oh, come off it, we all know it must've been you!"  Juno barked.  

"What are you talking about?  You all were with me the whole time!  Lily's the one we should worry about." 

Lily's jaw dropped.  "_What??" _

"Yeah!  You were the only one who wasn't with us, plus you're the best at Charms." 

"You've _got to be kidding me." _

Remus adjusted his glasses and said a little hesitantly, "Actually, Ellernec clouds are Charms things.  No offense, Lily, but you're kind of caught red-handed." 

Now everyone was looking at Lily.  Sirius started to grin triumphantly, but James spoke up.  "Come on, why would Lily do anything like that?" 

"You're just ignoring the facts because she's your girlfriend!"  Peter accused.  

James grabbed Peter abruptly by the shoulder.  Peter cringed away as though James was going to punch him, and Lily was afraid that he was going to, but McGonagall had jumped to her feet, taken out her wand, and sent a tiny thread of lightning at James's wrist.  "Really!  I have never seen such a spectacle in all my years teaching at Hogwarts!  Roughhousing in the Headmaster's office – and a Prefect!  Mr. Potter, you should be ashamed of yourself!  Now, please…Mr. Black, why exactly couldn't you have conjured the Ellernec cloud?" 

"Er…well, all of them were with me except Lily." 

"You've made that abundantly clear," she said drily.  "But where were they with you?" 

Sirius paled a bit, but quickly collected himself.  "After dinner, er…Remus was feeling sick.  Ate too much.  Lily…wanted to grab a bit more dessert, so she stayed behind while we all…brought him to the bathroom.  He thought he was going to toss his cookies, y'see.  J-juno came with us just in case things got nasty and we needed someone to keep watch outside and make sure nobody came in.  'Cause don't ya know, it took all three of us just to hold him up."  Lily felt embarrassed for him as the alibi just got lamer and lamer, but he seemed to have a death wish.  "And…well, he lost his lunch quite a few times…and then he passed out…so…er…we were there pretty late…then we brought him to the Infirmary…and, erm, that was pretty much it."  

While McGonagall was giving them her famous Stern Glare (patent pending) and Professor McBride looked sourer than ever, Dumbledore actually looked rather amused.  

"Stay here for a moment.  I'll be right back."  He left his office and returned in about ten minutes.  "Very nice, Mr. Black.  I admit that I'm impressed.  I've never heard a less believable story, and I've been hearing stories for a hundred twenty years next Tuesday.  It would be terribly unlikely, even if Madam Pomfrey had treated any students last night."  

"Oh…" Sirius's voice cracked.  "Did I say we brought him to the Infirmary?" 

"Yes," McGonagall hissed.  "As a matter of fact, you did."  

"Well, I guess that I meant that we, erm, sort of went to the Infirmary without actually going into it.  We never really talked to Madam Pomfrey, because at the last minute, Peter remembered how to make an Anti-Nausea Elixir out of...miraculously enough, only ingredients in the student store-cupboard."  

There was no amusement on Dumbledore's face now.  "Save yourself quite a bit of breath.  You're only painting yourself into a smaller corner than you're already in."  He looked from face to face.  "I regret to say that I've given up on the pursuit of truth in this particular situation.  All of you have two detentions.  Fifty points from Gryffindor for the crime, and an additional twenty-five for lying about it.  Also, for that little display you put on just now, Mr. Potter, five points from Gryffindor."  He paused and took a deep breath through his crooked nose.  "Miss Evans…Mr. Potter…I seem to remember that your titles as Prefects had been put on probation."  Looking extremely let down, he extended a hand over his desk.  "Please turn in your badges."  

Lily felt her cheeks burning as she unfastened her badge.  James looked every bit as humiliated, but hesitated before handing it to Dumbledore.  "Headmaster, could you just please-"

He was interrupted by Lily gently taking it from him and putting both their badges in Dumbledore's hand.  

"You're all dismissed," McGonagall said while Dumbledore put the badges in his desk.  

Professor McBride stood by the door as they trooped out, looking ready to spit.  "Ehh…'tis students like ye wot made me quit, so 'tis!" 

Dumbledore stood up.  "Mr. Potter and Miss Evans, would you please stay for a moment?  Minerva, you may go."  When the door closed behind McGonagall, and Lily and James were sitting in front of the desk, Dumbledore surveyed them, not with disappointment, but with curiosity.  "Now, what is this I heard about you two… 'going out,' to use the vernacular?" 

Lily's blush deepened.  "Er…we are, Headmaster." 

"As of when?" 

"Yesterday," James answered, blushing a bit himself.  

"Ah.  You do understand that this complicates the arrangements for the summer holidays?" 

Lily and James looked at each other with unpleasant understanding.  "We didn't even think of that." 

"Well, I'm afraid that the current situation would be quite inappropriate.  I will begin looking for someone else for you to stay with, Miss Evans."  He never actually said it, but his tone made it apparent that they were dismissed.  As they left, Dumbledore quietly said, "Happy Christmas."  

The door slid shut behind them.  Sirius, Remus, Peter, and Juno were standing against the opposite wall of the corridor like a police line-up, and every bit as stone-faced.  They looked up as Lily and James came out of Dumbledore's office and paused with unsaid words thick in the air.  

Finally, Sirius cleared his throat.  "Sorry about the whole Prefect thing."  

"Yeah, sorry," chorused the other three.  

"Ah…it's no big deal," James muttered.  

Lily didn't say anything.  For one thing, it _was a big deal.  It wasn't exactly something to grieve over, but the loss of the Prefect title was the worst blow to her dignity in a long time – especially considering that she hadn't done anything to deserve it.  For another thing, she was angry at Sirius for accusing her of casting the Ellernec cloud, angry at Remus for supporting him, and angry at Juno for not defending her.  She wanted her shame to weigh heavy on their consciences, or at least to bug them a little.  Everyone expected her to say something, though, so she said the only thing that would make no concessions, justify no wrongs, and give them all a major hint as to her feelings.  "Let's go back to the common room."_

The rest of the Christmas holidays, relations were, to say the least, strained between Lily and Sirius, not to mention James and Peter.  Juno wasn't talking to Sirius, James, or Peter, but didn't seem to have a problem with Remus or Lily.  Sirius and James weren't quite as joined-at-the-hip as usual, Lily spoke to Peter even less than she normally did, and other than that, the "days of our lives" factor at Hogwarts was pretty low.  

However, close friendships such as these are seldom severed easily.  Juno's temper cooled down toward James and Peter in about three days, Lily forgave Sirius (after a week of his world-famous, detention-avoiding "puppy dog eyes"), and an interesting New Year's Eve incident involving a Dungbomb made Juno finally give in to Sirius's begging.  But that's a story for another time.  

The following Sunday, the holidays ended, and the Hogwarts Express rolled back into Hogsmeade station.  Lily, Juno, and the Marauders were in the common room playing a wizard's version of Knucklebones, an ancient Greek game, when the students streamed in through the Portrait Hole.  Quinn Baker, Brendan Christenson, Michael Daehn, and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team almost knocked James over with enthusiastic shouts of "when's the first practice?" and "we're going to _slaughter Slytherin!"  Eva Sinclair sat down on the couch next to Lily and glared at her.  "Well.  Guess I'm not going to have to see __you at games anymore." _

She twisted away from Eva in annoyance.  "What are you talking about?" 

"Harvey's back."  She gestured toward the stocky, blonde-haired boy walking into the common room.  "You know, Harvey Locksmire, the _real Beater.  The one you replaced."    _

Lily suddenly remembered that she had only gotten onto the team because Harvey had "shattered" his shoulder over the summer holidays, and hadn't even really tried out.  She was just a stand-in until he healed – so realistically, he was the one who should play the rest of the season.  Warily, she glanced over at James as Harvey bounded toward him, bellowing, "I'm back in the game, 'captain!'"  

Judging from the way the color left James's face, Lily wasn't the only one who had forgotten about Harvey.  


	63. Sirius and the Ujis

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**A/N: _It took a long time, but we finally got up a list of most of the characters we own….so far.  More to come, of course, and we've probably missed some.  Let us know if you know of any who aren't on the list.  _**

**MONDO DISCLAIMER THINGY:  _JKR owns the setting and MWPP/L.  We own the plot, Chantel Merceles, Chrissy Johnson, Professor Lollio, Perry Mifflebey, Vanessa, Juno Frese, Eurydice Ramsey, Professor McBride, Amelia Black, Jessica, Anna, Kipper, Lily Junior (cat)_*****, Pamela Vancouver, Eva Sinclair, Quinn Baker, Michael Daehn, Ella Bourassa, Lena Riley, Tommy Rillton, Irene Hamilton, Brittany Morrison, Brendan Christenson, Harvey Locksmire, Sarah Abbot, Robert Achy, Orpheus Berry, Lotus Bone, Eva Ingsa, Robert Marley, Miriam Forsythe, and all the odd quirks you notice in the story that aren't featured in JKR's Harry Potter book series.  **

**_*__Teeeechnically__…*glares at Ariana*  We listed this one twice.  Do ya get it???   _**

**A/N:  _One more little bitty thing – We have heard the rumors that book 5 (OotP) is coming out before the end of this year.  *cough that sounds like "yeah, right."*  Also, we have heard the rumors that book 5 has information on Lily and James.  Seeing as we don't know WHAT that information is yet, we're not to be held accountable for any inconsistencies that might arise with the publication of book 5.  Toodles! 3 ya!_**

**Lily**

_Chapter 63_

The next day at dinner, Lily, James, Harvey, and Eva sat at the Gryffindor table, picking at their respective meals as the tension mounted to a tangible level.  James had submitted his decision about Quidditch team placement to Professor McGonagall, and everyone was listening for it in Dumbledore's welcome-back announcements.  Lily twisted her detention notice guiltily under the table.  When it came right down to it, she had still only gotten detention once in her whole life…and she didn't feel like cleaning owl poop again.  

"And also, it is my unpleasant duty to inform Divination students that Professor McBride has chosen to resign.  She has asked me to tell you that you all have been the vermin to her Saint Patrick…end quote…and while I'm not too sure what she meant by that, I can assure you that it was a pleasure to have her as a Hogwarts professor.  However, her sudden resignation has left us in a bit of a quandary.  Divination classes are cancelled until a replacement for Professor McBride may be found.  If no replacement is found by the end of the year, then we will have no choice but to cancel the exam as well."  

Juno looked like she could have cried for joy.  

"Regarding the Gryffindor Quidditch team…" every Gryffindor student's eyes focused on Dumbledore as he paused to create the appropriate anticipation.  He may have been a bit barmy, but he still knew how to deliver a speech.  "I think that you will all join me in welcoming Harvey Locksmire back from his period of healing.  He and Eva Sinclair are now the primary Gryffindor Beaters, and Lily Evans is the reserve."  

Harvey and Eva grinned at each other as though satisfied that their 'dream team' was once again intact.  Lily understood James's choice, and was certainly grateful that she could stay a member of the team, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed.  But that was nothing compared with what came next.    

"There is one last announcement, also concerning the Gryffindors…an incident which occurred over the Christmas holidays has caused a re-assignment of Gryffindor Prefects.  The new Prefects will be chosen within the next week and notified by owl, and their names will be posted with the House Points."  

Lily concentrated on her mashed potatoes and pretended not to notice that the whole of Gryffindor House – in addition to most of the other students – were staring at her and James.  But there was no way to block out their whispering, and Lily's eyes started to fill with tears.  She blinked and tried to wipe them away, then felt James take her hand under the table.  When she looked over at him, he was smiling and shrugging in an obvious show that it wasn't a big deal.  But there was something behind the smile, behind the glasses, behind the eyes that made it clear – his pride was hurt every bit as much as hers.  Lily pushed her chair back from the table.  "Have any of you got detention with me?"  Everyone shook their heads no.  "Great…I've got to go meet Madam Pomfrey for a rousing spree of potion-alphebetizing.  See you tomorrow." 

At the end of dinner, Peter slipped away unnoticed into the Forbidden Forest.  

"Now?" 

"No." 

"When?" 

"Never!" 

"But master, please…" 

"You, Wormtail, have fallen from grace.  You'll be lucky if I ever give you so much as a Muggle-torture assignment…when you're eighty-seven." 

"It was so long ago, though, and we did take care of it, didn't we?" 

"_I took care of it!"  he raged.  "Try to get it through your thick skull that your little escapades around the school are too conspicuous!  If you were seen once, you can be seen again, and by someone far more significant.  That girl was expendable, not to mention easy to kill.  However…" There was a pause, and Peter found himself straining to hear through the silence.  _

"Master?  Where are you?"  A bony hand lashed out and slapped him across the face.  

"Take my word as law," Voldemort hissed, "For it is the only law that holds mercy for the likes of you." 

Lily's detention with Madam Pomfrey wasn't as horrible as she had thought it would be.  True, it was rather dull, but it seemed like a piece of cake compared with James's.  He didn't say exactly what he'd done, but he did mention something about two crazy fourth-year girls, a blue notebook, and a hedgehog.

Her second detention, though, was a bit more interesting. 

She and Sirius received the same notes, both instructing them to meet Professor Lollio in the Entrance Hall at noon on Saturday.  Professor Lollio led them out the huge double doors, across the grounds, and into Greenhouse Three.   

"Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaand baaaaaaaack now, kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiids," she trilled.  Lily and Sirius backed up against the trestle bench.  "Try theeeeeeeeese on for siiiiiiiiize."  She handed them each a pair of gloves, which they pulled on quickly, and indicated the umbrella-like blossoms hanging from the ceiling.  "Seeeeeeeee theeeeeeese?  They're Flesh-Eeeeeeeating Ujiiiiiiiiiis.  Newly impooooooooooooorted from Japaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan.  You'll be feeeeeeeeeeeeeding them."  

For a split second, Lily was terrified that Professor Lollio had meant that _they would be the plant's food, but when she produced two buckets of raw Cornish game hens, cherries, and other 'surprises', Lily knew what she meant.  "I'll be baaaaaaaaack to cheeeeeeeeeeck on yoooooouuuuuuu every soooooooooo ofteeeeeeen untiiiiiiiiiil you're dooooooooooone."  With a tiny smirk, Professor Lollio strode out of the greenhouse, smacking an unruly Creeping Wallamiah that tried to creep up her leg.  _

"Hmm…" Lily picked one of Hagrid's stoat sandwiches up out of her bucket, then was rather confused to find a bottle of Grey Poupon mustard.  "Sirius, d'you think these things like mustard?"  

Sirius's voice came from the other end of the greenhouse entirely.  "I dunno, but they sure like fireworks!"  Before she could fully process what he meant, there was a giant burp and a few small explosions, and a pinwheel sparkler almost took her head off.  

"Sirius!  What do you think you're doing?"  

"Oh, come on!  You really think that these poor babies want to eat nasty chicken scraps and rotten cherries?  They may be vicious carnivorous plants, but they're _classy vicious carnivorous plants.  Isn't that right, Foofie?"  _

Lily had walked to the other end of the greenhouse by now, and gaped at Sirius, who was stroking and nuzzling one of the huge, salmon-colored plants.  "Foofie?  You named it Foofie?  You named it _anything??"  _

"They deserve some tender loving care, don't you think?"  

"Ummmm……no."  

"Well, I think so.  His name's Foofie because he likes Filibuster Fireworks, and the Filibuster company was founded by Foof Filibuster in 1486."  

Lily threw a Cornish game hen up to the next one in line.  "If only you knew as much about History of Magic as you do about those stupid things…you'd be an absolute genius."  

"How nice of you to say.  If only you were as not-scared of heights as you are of Charms exams…you'd be the greatest Beater of all time."  

Even though it was meant to be a joke, Lily got the message and felt a little embarrassed, to say the least, for yet again dogging Sirius about his less-than-perfect academic record.  She blushed, squirted some mustard on a stoat sandwich, and tried to change the subject.  "Er…how's Anna doing?"  

"I wouldn't know…aww, you like Dungbombs, doncha, Smelly?  Here, have some more."  He proceeded to feed it a pocketful of its 'favorite food', then turned his attention back to Lily.  "I tried to ask her out again, and she said – direct quote – 'I'd rather slowly decapitate myself with a butterknife.'"  

Lily bit back a laugh.  "Why would she say something like that?  I thought she had fun at the Christmas dance."  

"Probably because her boyfriend was sitting right there."  

Lily was so surprised that she missed the plant and hit Sirius right in the face with a handful of cherries.  

"Okay, that's it!"  He set down the Chocolate Frog that he was about to feed 'Vivica' and glared at Lily.  "Give me your shoes."  

"What?" 

"Your shoes!  I'm running out of good things to feed them."  

"You're mental." 

"Yes, but I also have cherries all over my face, and it's your fault." 

Lily looked down at her feet.  They were, after all, her rattiest old pair of hand-me-down sneakers from Petunia.  "Fine."  She unlaced them and handed them to Sirius.  "Whatever.  Just don't feed them to Foofie. I think he has a gas problem."  

"Shhh!  Foofie's very sensitive about his gas, as a matter of fact, so I'd prefer it if you didn't mention it.  Besides," he said, now taking off his own shoes, "These are for Harry."  

"Harry?" Lily snorted.  "Why would you name a plant Harry?" 

"Why would you name anything Harry?  At least the plant doesn't know what's being done to it."  

Lily shrugged.  "I actually kind of like the name Harry."  

"Yeah?"  Sirius fed Lily's left shoe to Harry.  "Well, James doesn't."  

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said, somewhere between amused and impatient.  

"Oh, nothing…nothing at all."  While Lily fed 'Smelly' some real food, Sirius scribbled something down on a broad red leaf he plucked off of a Morte D'Arthur vine, then put it in his robe pocket.  Finding a stapler there, he fed that to another Flesh-Eating Uji, this one called 'Rover.'  "Hey, Lily, do you have a hat?" 

"No…why?" 

"Never mind, I do."  He pulled it out of his pocket and let Rover gobble it down.  

"Howwwww's everything gooooooooooooooing?" Professor Lollio's voice rippled through the greenhouse.  

Sirius grabbed a half-eaten ham from the bucket and tossed it up to Foofie.  "Things are going great, Professor!"  

"Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat's goooooooooooooooooood."  She stood behind them and surveyed their work.  "Miiiiiiiiiss Evaaaaaaaaans?" 

"Yes, Professor?" Lily strained, trying to hold off an amorous Cupid Flower's advances while she fed Vivica a stoat sandwich. 

"Wooooooooord on the streeeeeeeeeeet is that yoooooooooouuuu and Mr. Pooooooooootter are quiiiiiiiiiiiite the little paaaaaaaaaaiiiiir.  No, dooooooooooon't saaaaaaaaay anythiiiiiiiing…juuuuuuuuust knooooowww that Iiiii knew it.  Aaaaaaaaall the tiiiiiiiiime." And with that, Professor Lollio swept out of the greenhouse, humming merrily to herself.  

"Bonkers," Sirius muttered, petting 'Baxter' and giving it a few cucumbers that he'd been storing in his pocket.  

"Sirius…exactly how many pockets do you _have?" _

"Just four."  He picked up a potted Kilimanjaro Crysanthemum (very expensive) and fed it to Baxter.  "I used an Expansion Charm; they could hold a tuba.  That reminds me…"  He started to pull something big, shiny, and brassy out of one of his pockets.

Lily looked away, laughing.  Leave it to Sirius to break the rules while he's in detention.  

January faded into February with a gentle cascade of snow, finding Lily, Juno, and the four Marauders crowded around a table at the Three Broomsticks during the first Hogsmeade weekend of the new year.  There had almost not been enough seats, so they had 'borrowed' a bench from outside, and Lily and James were squished into the corner of it by Sirius and Peter (Sirius's idea, of course).  After rolling his eyes quite a bit, James had grinned and put his arm around Lily's shoulders, muttering, "We are going out, after all."  

Working around some furious parchment-scribbling by Sirius, the six friends talked about teachers, Quidditch, the Slytherins, Lily and James, and just about everything else for almost two hours.  They had just concluded plans for a grand prank to play on Evan Rosier when the Marauders, seemingly thinking with one mind, all got up at once.  

"Where are you all going?" Lily asked, a little startled.  

"Er, nowhere," James said abruptly, heading towards the door with Sirius and Peter.  

Remus glanced at them, then leaned down and whispered to Lily and Juno, "If you really want to know, James is being a sentimental git and making us help him find a Valentine's day gift for you, Lily.  He's gone soft on us…" Shaking his head in mock disappointment, Remus followed the other three out into the light snow.  

Lily shrugged a bit and pulled on her cloak, even though the brightly crackling fire behind the bar was radiating an almost uncomfortable heat.  She had inadvertently grown accustomed to having James's arm around her shoulders, keeping her warm.  She hoped Juno didn't notice her blushing.  

Juno groaned.  "What're you putting on your cloak for?  Don't tell me you're going to drag me through this weather just to get a present for your _boyfriend."  _

"Yes!  Yes, I am!"  Lily sprang from her seat, glad of an excuse to look flustered.  

"Fine."  Juno put on her own cloak.  "I know Hogsmeade better than you, anyway." Immediately, her eyes widened and her mouth clamped shut as though she'd just made a huge verbal mistake.  

Lily picked up on it instantly.  "You do?  _How did you learn so much about Hogsmeade, pray tell?" _

"Nothing!  I…I used to come here when I was really little.  My dad used to take me." 

"You live almost as far away as I do, and you told me that your dad wasn't a wizard.  Come on, what've you been doing?"  She could only imagine Juno stealing the Marauder's Map and using it to sneak into Hogsmeade, or perhaps swiping James's Invisibility Cloak on the odd weekend just for a laugh.  Lily stood in front of the door with her arms crossed like a bodyguard.  "I'm not letting you through until you tell me why you said that."  

"Okay!  Just promise you won't say anything to anyone." 

"I promise.  Now tell me!" 

Juno looked from side to side as though someone might have been listening in.  "I've sort of been secretly dating Remus." 

"What?!?!"  Lily squawked.  

"Shhh!  Not so loud!  It's only been for about two weeks now.  Besides, it's not that big a deal."  

They started out onto the street.  "Are you kidding?  Of course it's that big a deal!  Who else knows?" 

"Sirius."  Juno rolled her eyes. "Sirius knows everything, as per usual."  

Lily couldn't stop laughing.  "Please tell me Professor Lollio doesn't know.  She'd have a coronary." 

"To my knowledge, she's as clueless as ever.  Let's get a card first, over here at Gilde's Gifts."  

While they looked over the racks and racks of brightly colored cards, it suddenly occurred to Lily that she was finding a card for her boyfriend, who was also her best friend, and enlisting the help of her second best friend, who happened to be secretly dating another friend of hers, who was also her boyfriend/best friend's friend, and everyone was friends with Sirius, who was friends with absolutely everybody.  

And all of a sudden, she felt lucky to have so many friends. 


	64. Chapter 64

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

A/N: I don't suppose any of you have heard of a rare affliction called "The Crooks"? Well, both of us have it. It's a relatively newly-discovered syndrome that only affects fanfiction authors who have sixty or more chapters in one fic. Symptoms include giggles, long periods of silence, inability to write fluff OR action scenes, and an overall condition of brainlessness. There is, as of now, no known remedy. We've got the little men in white jackets working on it, though. :o) 

By the way, one of the days that we tried to start this chapter, and were set upon by a horrid case of the Crooks, Clara consulted (very angrily) a magic 8 ball, saying "ARE WE GOING TO FINISH THIS TODAY?" With little or no passion whatsoever, the 8 ball calmly replied, "No way!" 

Suggested locations for L/J Valentine's date included a dairy farm, a bowling alley, scuba diving, the dungeons, the Shrieking Shack, arts and crafts (don't ask), roller-skating, a rock concert, the beach, a waterslide, an amusement park, skydiving, rock climbing, peacock-riding (SO don't ask), Greenhouse 3, a spider-infested paddleboat, and down by the lake…yeah…the one with the evil squid. Behold, the power of CROOKS! 

And just so y'all know – Ariana doesn't like writing holidays. 

(no disclaimer – we're quite worn out from the MONDO DISCLAIMER THINGY from last chapter.) 

**Lily**

_Chapter 64_

Lily and Juno sat in the North Tower, which had recently been redecorated. Rumors were already circulating about the new Divination professor, and frankly, Lily was dying to see if they were true. 

"She's from Italy, but you wouldn't know it to hear her talk," William Baxter, a nerdy third-year had said over breakfast. 

"And she's got this weird habit of humming all the time, even when she's teaching," said Julia Thomas, also a third-year. 

"Well, I bet you'd hum too, if you'd just finished touring with the Calabrese Opera Witches. Besides, I don't mind the humming so much. She's got _perfect_ pitch." William munched on a piece of toast and adjusted his glasses thoughtfully. "You know, I wonder if she's got any connections with opera companies…I'd love to go into music." 

"Ooooh! Looks like someone fancies Professor Gadani!" Julia teased. 

William blushed furiously. "I do _not_! I just think Fiorenza's an incredible singer." 

"Are you kidding? 'Fiorenza?' Please, if that's not a crush, I don't know what is." 

All crushes aside, the North Tower looked as though a lace factory had exploded somewhere nearby and rained debris down on the little room. Gauzy white curtains allowed the cold winter sun to filter through the windows while the freshly-painted, glaringly white walls made Lily's head hurt almost as much as the floral fumes generating from the dozens of vases of white carnations, roses, lilies, narcissi, and gardenias that lined the walls. She shifted in the small white chair and looked down at the white tablecloth over the round white table set on the white carpet, then stared hard at her own hand just to remind herself that there were colors other than white in the world. 

Suddenly, a trill of music rippled from a far corner of the room. To the front there swept, humming "Ride of the Valkyries," a tall, curvy woman wearing a long white tiered skirt and a cream-colored blouse. Her shoulder-length hair, though, was the strangest part of her. When she had walked out of the corner, it was dark brown with a hint of blonde at the edges. Then the blonde faded and disappeared during the song, allowing a reddish auburn to creep up from the bottom and consume even the top of her head by the grand finale. "Ah! Nothing like a song – lalala! – to begin class with!" 

"Bonkers," Juno muttered to Lily. 

"You know what's a fa…fa…" she started trying to find a note. "Never mind. You know what's a fabulous idea? Everyone stand up. Come on, stand up!" Slowly and very hesitantly, they got to their feet. "That's better. Now, everybody take a deeeeep breath in…and let it out like this. Hahahaa!" She bounced her way down the scale. Very few people actually followed those directions. "Well, maybe not. How about we all sing a song together? I'll bet you know this one! It's a pretty old song, isn't it? Everyone knows 'Spells and Such,' right?" She hummed the first few bars as everyone nodded hesitantly, even though they hadn't a clue what she was talking about.  What followed was an extremely long and drawn-out version of a song which, most likely, Professor Gadani had made up.  

"Ah!" she sighed, but it sounded more like she was vocalizing. "Doesn't that just clear your minds?" Without waiting for an answer, she made a crystal ball appear at each table with a flick of her wand. "Now, look into the glass and try to turn off all of your senses other than your Inner Eye." It was the first sentence Professor Gadani had yet managed without singing or referencing music. Relieved, Lily leaned forward to try her luck at the crystal ball. 

Juno leaned over and whispered, "Does the mist seem whiter to you?" 

Lily didn't get a chance to answer. Professor Gadani was "ha-ha'ing" again, this time with much longer, higher tones in a piercing soprano. The melody climbed up what seemed to be octaves and octaves until Lily felt like her head was going to explode. 

CRASH!

At the table immediately in front of Professor Gadani, a few Ravenclaws leaped back with a shriek. Their crystal ball had shattered into a million pieces, which behaved normally before zooming to the ceiling as though magnetically drawn there. 

"Stay calm, everybody, stay calm!" Professor Gadani yelled. "I made the ceiling glass-attracting just in case that happened. Accio broken pieces of crystal ball!" they floated through the air before she sent them into the dustbin. "I would try a Reparo, but it wouldn't retain its magic. Alas! You know, I think there's a song about something like that…" 

As Professor Gadani searched for the melody, Lily sank down in her chair, rubbing her temples and thinking to herself that at least she had Valentine's Day to look forward to at the end of the week. 

"Can you take the blindfold off of me yet?"  Lily said, trying to balance her gift for James under one arm as he led her by the other hand.  

"Not yet." 

She sighed and adjusted the gift higher up on her hip.  They had been walking for at least twenty minutes already, and to make it even more tantalizing, Lily kept hearing James whisper with someone who was obviously guiding them to wherever they were going.  After about three minutes, she tried again to peek through the blindfold.  "At least give me a hint." 

"Just a sec," James muttered, and they halted.  Lily heard three soft taps, and then they kept walking.  She heard James whisper, "Thanks."  

"For what?" 

"I wasn't talking to you…okay, now I'll give you a hint."  He let go of her hand and untied the blindfold.  "Try not to fall through this time." 

Lily gasped.  The room was gigantic, with bleacher seats lining its darkened walls and high windows showing the streetlights' orangish glow, which reflected gently…off of the ice.  It was perfectly smooth, as though the Zamboni operator had decided to run over it once more before closing.  She turned to James, only to find that he was holding out her ice skates.  "How did you…?" 

"Juno smuggled 'em out for me."  

"No…I mean, how did we get here?"  She gestured around the arena, completely bewildered. 

"Oh," James grinned.  "Funny thing about shape-shifters – they're honorable when they need to be.  Kipper would've got shipped to a zoo somewhere if I hadn't taken the blame for him knocking over a few jars of newts' eyes, so I just asked him to bring us here and back…and no bothering us in between."  He sat down on the nearest set of bleachers and motioned for Lily to do the same.  "D'you want to put on your skates?"  

"Not just yet."  She handed him the red-and-white wrapped box.  "It's not exactly an ice skating rink, but you know…Happy Valentine's Day anyway." 

He ripped off the paper and was about to toss aside the lacy ribbon, but then he pressed it playfully onto Lily's head before tearing open the cardboard box.  "When Playbooks Just Aren't Enough: Aids for the Quidditch Player…Hogwarts Edition," He read off the miniature briefcase-looking case.  "What is it?"  

"Here," she said, reaching over and unlatching the silver clasps.  An exact replica of the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch sprang up, complete with the banners on each of the stands indicating which House they belonged to.  Fourteen tiny figures stood in the center, all wearing white Quidditch robes and holding broomsticks.  James's jaw dropped.  "And you can make their robes whatever color…it's all in the instruction manual."  

"This is…oh, my God…wow…"  It was the most overwhelmed she'd ever seen him, and it struck her as rather funny that he was getting this choked up over a sport.  He turned away and wiped a tear from his eye.  "Er…thanks."  

"You're welcome," she said, starting to lace up her skates.  "I _was going to get you a card, but they're all so…impersonal."_

James shrugged.  "I dunno.  Some of 'em are all right."  He thrust his hands into his pockets, just to make sure that Lily couldn't see that he had, in fact, bought her a card.  

"I guess.  Why don't you put your skates on?" 

"Erm……" 

Lily stood, balancing tenuously on the thin blades, with her arms akimbo.  "You didn't bring _skates?"   _

"First of all, if I recall correctly, I don't know _how to skate.  Second of all, I think that I might be bad luck for you on the ice."  _

"Fine.  You'll just have to come out on your shoes."  

After much slipping and falling, James eventually managed to get a rhythm down, skittering about five steps for every one of Lily's glides.  "You know what?" she said, turning around and skating backwards so that they were face-to-face.  

"What?" he puffed as he slid after her. 

"I like it better like this – I can actually see your face without getting a crick in my neck."  

"Yeah, this is nice."  He moved over to the side and clung to the rail.  "Why don't you skate around for a little bit while I avoid hyperventilating?" 

Lily laughed, then took off for two circles around the rink, culminating in a complicated-looking jump.  "Wow," James breathed.  "I have no idea how you can do that."  

"Oh, yeah?  And I have no idea how you can be so high up on a broomstick and not get sick."  She was doing another lap, this time in the opposite direction.  "If you liked that, wait 'til you see this one."  

James watched, transfixed by the fluid grace that seemed to connect her with the ice, to propel her in a dizzying spiral, and to draw her to him not physically, but in some way that he couldn't even begin to put into words.  She could feel his eyes on her, and miraculously felt no pressure or tension for being watched.  Here it was: she kicked off of the ice with one foot, using the momentum to spin in midair once, twice…SMACK. 

With a painful twist of the ankle, she realized that she'd miscalculated, and went sprawling onto the glassy surface.  It was embarrassing enough to have fallen, but now, she wondered if she would be able to walk back.  To make matters worse (or better, depending on how you look at it), James had left his safe-harbor edge and was careening out of control towards her.  "James, be careful!"  The words had barely left her mouth when his feet flew out from under him and he hit the ice, slamming into her.  

"Ow!"  Lily's shoulder rammed into the side, and she couldn't quite tell whether it hurt more than her ankle.  

"Owww!"  James had assumed a rather painful position in which he was lying flat on his back, but with the back of his head pressed against the side.  "Eurgh…some date."  He slowly pushed himself into a sitting position.  

"Sorry, but I'd have to agree."  Lily sat up, wincing at the twinge in her shoulder and the pain in her ankle.  "It's the thought that counts, though."  

He rubbed the back of his neck.  "Yeah, I know…d'you think I broke my neck?" 

"Don't be such a baby," she teased.  "I think I broke my ankle."  

"Now _you stop being a baby." _

Lily leaned over and took off her skates.  "Seriously, does the right one look swollen to you?" 

"No."  

"You didn't even _look!"  _

"Well, you didn't look at my neck.  By the way, here," he took out a small bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  "I remembered they're your favorites…sorry if they're a bit squished."  

"Hmm, wonder if they've got any aspirin-flavored ones," Lily said, only half joking.  

Luckily, a half a joke often merits a half a smile, and that was all James ever needed to charm anyone within a five-mile radius.  "Watch this," he said, grabbing a bean.  He tossed it into the air and, as it flew in an arc towards his face, he caught it in his mouth.  

They sat like this for at least an hour, talking about everything and nothing, laughing and joking, having bean-catching contests, completely at ease with one another and themselves.  Neither of them glanced up to see the clock, or worried that it was getting late.  It was their own corner of the universe that they'd carved out, a corner for talking about the rest of the world.  Even the most powerful of wizards fails in his attempt to stop time, restricted to move either backwards or forward, but these two sixth-year students, merely by being in each others' company and letting their hearts do the talking, had inadvertently discovered the secret to making time at least seem to stop completely.  

Soon, all of the Every Flavor Beans had either been eaten or, seeing as Lily was quite the amateur at catching them, dropped on the ice.  Lily had moved closer to James, and he had put his arm around her.  There was silence, except for those muffled echoes that always fill large rooms and have neither beginning nor end.  "Happy Valentine's Day, Lily," James said softly.  She murmured a sleepy reciprocation and let her eyes flutter closed.  Then he spoke again, after a few seconds, "Lily." 

"Hmm?"  

"No, it's just…it never really hit me before…your name is so beautiful." 

She opened her eyes, turning to look up at him.  There was nothing to say.  As simply and easily as if she had been scripted to do so all along, she put one hand on his cheek, gently pulling his face to hers, and kissed his lips with a plain, unadorned tenderness.  

They ended that kiss so slowly and after so long that it was like concluding a dream, with fragments of its wonder trailing behind.  And when she met his smoky grey eyes once again, she couldn't help but smile.  "That wasn't the first time we've kissed, you know," she whispered. 

"I know."  He broke out the half-smile again.  "Wanna know something else?" 

"What?" 

"It won't be the last."

A/N: Btw, this here is the word association that we used to figure out where the date was REALLY going to be: 

Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. 

Marauders

Maraud

To Steal

Take away

Leave

Leaf

Tree

Trees

Forest

Forbidden Forest

Scary

Voldemort

Peter

Worms

Wormtongue

The Two Towers

Starbucks 

Stars

Stargazing

Calimari

Ocean

Boats

Paddleboats

Spiders

Aragog

Big hairy spider thing

Cabin

Firewood

Fire

Common room

Cliché

Love/hate

Not us

Applesauce

Cinnamon

Cinnamon hearts

Hearts

Romance

Out of Africa

Redford

Cute

Brad Pitt

Cute Mall Guy

Punk

Skulls

Hot Topic

Contempo

Peacock

Vain

Manicures+makeovers

Ariana's sister is skating on thin ice

Ice 

ICE SKATING!!!!!!

Special thanks to Ariana's sister for being such a natural ditz. 


	65. A Second Dose of Oddity Potpourri

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2002

**A/N:** _Ya__ know, we don't need to have one of these every chapter. And there doesn't happen to be anything to say about this one. Ok. Bye. _

_Unfortunately, you have to put up with one comment: Special thanks to Pamela Vancouver, even though she doesn't really exist, for being the butt of so many practical jokes. Poor kid. Everybody say "Awwwww." _

_I'll just assume you actually did. _

**Disclaimer:**_ Remember the Mondo Disclaimer Thingy? Well, just tack Mr. Lyons, Professor Mace, William Baxter, Julia Thomas, and Fiorenza Gadani onto that list. :O)_

**Lily**

Chapter 65

Of course, neither Lily's ankle nor James's neck had actually been broken. About fifteen minutes after they had kissed, Kipper had shown up, cracking out of the disco ball in the form of a giant blue lightning bolt and announcing that he had been at a slumber party, haunting the mirror during a game of "Bloody Mary." A rather tiring round of "Hot/Cold" followed, with Kipper refusing to actually lead them anywhere in the mirror passages. But they eventually found their way back to the common room, then went off to their respective dormitories in anticipation of the Quidditch game to be played the next day. 

Three-quarters of the crowd roared as the Gryffindor team flew a lap around the Quidditch pitch, scarlet robes streaming behind them. Lily couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that she would have to sit on the sidelines with the other reserve players for the entire match…unless, of course, Harvey or Eva got hurt. And it just didn't feel quite right to wish for a Bludger to come along and thwack Eva in the shoulder or something. Not _quite right. Besides, there was always that odd tendency of a wizard's or witch's wish to come true, simply by virtue of his or her magical ability. _

The players settled onto the grass in two lines, Gryffindor facing Slytherin. Even from her perch off to the side, Lily could see the color drain from James's face as the legendary (but until now, unseen) Holly, Seeker and Captain of the Slytherin team, stepped forward to shake his hand. 

She was at least six feet tall, with a squarish, muscular torso resting on two sheer columns of muscle that she must have considered to be her legs. As a matter of fact, just about everything about her was square, including the huge hand that engulfed James's. Her eyes were a tannish-brown color, as were her hair and skin. Overall, Holly Smeds was an intimidating enough presence that Lily suddenly felt glad to be benched. 

The game began. Ella Bourassa began her commentary, which, as usual, was rather Hufflepuff-centric, even though Hufflepuff wasn't even playing in this particular match. "And here we are on this lovely March day…well, lovely except for the lack of yellow on the field. Y'know, I recommend a moment of silence due to the fact that Hufflepuff has just been slaughtered by those Ravenclaw nitwits, due to UNFAIR TACTICS!!!!" The moment of silence was observed by about .0687% of the crowd, which erupted into raucous cheers (in the case of Slytherins) or groans (in the case of everyone else); Holly had just rammed into Brendan Christenson, the Keeper, preventing him from blocking the Slytherin Chaser from scoring. "Unsurprising," Ella continued gloomily. "She used the same move on poor Adam Morse when Hufflepuff was playing Slytherin. As I was saying, a moment of silence might be appropr-"

Again, the crowd found reason to drown out her magically magnified (but thoroughly useless) voice, as a lot of things happened at once. First, Quinn Baker of Gryffindor took possession of the Quaffle and began to speed toward the Slytherin goal, with Lena Riley and Michael Daehn close on either side of him, ready to absorb the brunt of any Bludger attack. Holly was, of course, hot on their trail, and was about to grab hold of the tail of Quinn's broom when James, who had been hovering near the Gryffindor goalposts, broke into a sharp dive. Holly veered off to interrupt his dive, determined not to allow him to catch the Snitch before she did. Ella finally caught onto the fact that nobody wanted to hear her effuse Hufflepuff sympathy, and began to actually commentate on the game. "Anyway, here's something new! It appears as though Potter's seen the Snitch! Wait…he's pulling out of the dive…" Realization dawned on everyone as James grinned and waved at the crowd like the exhibitionist he was. "Ohh, he was just distracting Smeds! And he's laughing in Smeds's face…not a good move at all…" Holly's scowl was visible even from where Lily sat as Quinn Baker scored ten points for Gryffindor. "Let's see, Michael Daehn catches the Quaffle on the other side of the Slytherin goals and tosses it back to Baker for another ten points! The Gryffindor Chasers are in perfect sync today! Almost as good as Hufflepuff, but seeing as Hufflepuff's out of the running for the finals, I don't suppose anybody cares. In any case, it looks like Smeds has seen the Snitch!" 

And that it did. Holly, with James following close behind, was climbing to a spot just above the Slytherin stands with one hand stretched out to catch the Snitch. Lily squinted and stared up at them, knowing that James could never physically push Holly aside. "They're going right up the side there…It appears as though Potter is trying to bully her out of the chase – ha, good luck there – and Smeds is simply not having any! Wait...what's Potter yelling? 'Barmy'? 'Humvee'? Oh! That's it, 'Harvey'! He's calling for Harvey Locksmire, the Gryffindor Beater who's just recently recovered from a nasty shoulder injury that-" The crowd didn't seem to particularly care – they were too busy cheering Harvey on as he battered a Bludger straight at Holly's outstretched hand. Closer, closer, closer, and finally, with a sickening yet satisfying _crack_, Holly reeled back, clutching her hand. James grabbed the Snitch seemingly out of thin air and took his victory lap, once again with the entire Gryffindor team tagging along behind. 

The next Hogsmeade weekend found Lily, Juno, and the Marauders trucking through the Dissendium passage, as Filch had finally found out about the one just outside the Great Hall. It seems that someone had done the spell wrong and forgotten to seal it up behind them. Lily didn't say anything, but she had a pretty good feeling that it had been Juno and Remus. 

After pilfering as much candy as they could carry from the Honeyduke's basement, they slipped upstairs and out onto the street. It had rained buckets for the past day and a half, so the late March air was full of the springlike scents of mud and green. The villagers hurried by, still warily clutching umbrellas as though they didn't quite trust the sun. All was happy and optimistic, though, for the six teenagers walking through Hogsmeade with their pockets full of candy, laughing, talking, and, in Sirius's case, scribbling away on an old piece of parchment every so often. 

Lily hadn't been able to keep Lily Junior – who she was now beginning to call Nuisance – at the school, so the cat trailed after them, weaving in and out of Lily's ankles. "Sod off, nuisance!!" she exclaimed after being tripped for the eighth time. 

"Li-_ly!" Juno gasped as she scooped Lily Junior into her arms. "How could you possibly be so mean? He just wants some attention, is all." _

"That cat needs more attention than an infant," Lily grumbled. 

"That's what I say," came a boisterous, familiar voice from the exit of Carmen's Cleaning Supplies, "An' that's why I stick with dogs like Fang here." Hagrid lumbered out into the road with a large bucketful of potions and scrub brushes. Fang was jogging along at his side with a smaller bucket attached to his collar. 

"H'lo there, Hagrid!" James said brightly. "What's the bucket about?" 

"Spring cleanin's comin' up," Hagrid said, shifting the bucket from one hip to the other, "An' no better time than the April holidays, eh?" 

"Right…" Sirius looked unpleasantly surprised, as though he had forgotten about the coming holiday. 

Hagrid raised his bushy eyebrows and turned back to James. "What's wrong with that one?" 

"Nothing, he's just got to stay with his great-aunt and uncle, and they're sort of…well…"

"Prats?" Sirius snapped. "Snobby gits? Idiots? Motorcycle-haters? Or maybe you're looking for something a little stronger, like-" 

"Right now, that's enough o' that," Hagrid cut him off. 

Sirius ignored him. "They owled me last week and said that they wouldn't allow me to keep the motorcycle there! Where am I going to keep it otherwise? Something always goes wrong when I shrink it down, so I can't very well do that!" He angrily crunched a Mood Marzipan as his teeth turned bright red, a color that was supposed to indicate anger or hatred. "Maybe I'll just stay in the Shrieking Shack or something. Bet nobody _there would mind a motorcycle." _

"Nobody is _ever _there," Remus said hastily. "As it's haunted." 

Luckily, Hagrid hadn't picked up on the faux pas. "Tell yeh what, Sirius. I'll keep that motorbike in my house over the holiday. That'll keep it safe. An' chin up, eh? Prob'ly won't be as bad as all that anyway. Well, I've got ter be off puttin' these bottles an' such in a safe place." 

"Safe?" Lily queried. 

Hagrid chuckled. "Yeah, safe. Meanin' far away from that Professor Gadani an' her singing – if'n yeh call it that. More like screechin', if yeh ask me." He looked around, then leaned in close. "Now, I didn' tell yeh this, but word is Dumbledore's thinkin' on firin' 'er. She's been singin' 'round Madam Pomfrey's expensive potions…may they rest in pieces." He walked away, smiling. 

Sirius grinned, the Mood Marzipan now coloring his teeth the greenish-blue color of happy gratitude. "Y'know, I don't reckon I'd trust anybody else with my motorcycle, but something about Hagrid…unless Fang drools on it, I'm pretty sure it'll be ok." 

That night at dinner, Professor Dumbledore stood up to make an announcement. "As some of you may already know, Professor Gadani will no longer be teaching at Hogwarts." A brief pause. The only person actually sad to see her go was William Baxter, who let out a short cry of dismay. "And I believe that you speak for all of us in that, Mr. Baxter. Aptly put. We will certainly miss her, though her replacement has already been secured and will begin teaching on Monday." 

Dumbledore sat down as though the matter was closed, but the indomitable Professor Gadani saw things differently. She swept to her feet, her hair moving through the spectrum of blues today, and straightened her glaring white robes as she took a prima donna-like sip of water. "Thank you so – so – so – sol mi do – so much, Headmaster. It was a true pleasure working here, and I admit that I will be sorry to leave." 

"Very nice, Fiorenza," Dumbledore interrupted, feeling a song looming in the very near future. "Now-"

"After all, you have all been ever so delightful to me, even those poor Ravenclaws whose crystal ball I shattered on the first…_The first tiiiiiime, ever I saaaaaaw your face…_" 

  
Groans resounded through the Great Hall as Professor Gadani began the famous song about forty keys too high. Juno dove under the table and covered her ears. "Call me up when she's finished!" There was absolutely no reason for Professor Gadani to begin, in the middle of the song, a dizzying climb up every scale imaginable, except perhaps showmanship. Higher and higher and higher her voice floated, above even the loudest _boo_ing in the Hall, above William Baxter's goofily enraptured face, and above, it seems, the teachers' threshold of tolerance. 

At the exact same time, Professor McGonagall on her left and Professor Flitwick on her right leaped up and pushed her back down into her seat. McGonagall quickly pressed a napkin over Gadani's mouth and sat back in her own chair, removing a pair of wax earplugs. 

"I tell you something," William Baxter said sadly, taking a sip of his punch. "This school's just not going to be the same without her." 

"You've got that right," Juno muttered. "No more needing to know how to use a tourniquet as a requirement for Divination." She brought a hand up to her neck as though to fiddle with a necklace, but stopped abruptly upon finding nothing there. "Er…Lily? Was I wearing a necklace today?" 

"No, I don't think so. Why?" 

"Nothing…" it was then that Lily noticed that Remus had looked up at Juno's question, too. "I must've just left it in the dormitory, then. Weird, though. I don't remember seeing it on my bedside table this morning." 

Lily glanced grimly across the table to Peter, thinking that there was one person who didn't have any problems with taking things – or people – from the girls' dormitories. 

Pamela Vancouver was lost. The directions provided by a blue suit of armor had proven to be terribly erroneous, seeing as she was now somewhere in the Arithmancy wing, and nowhere near the familiar eagle statue that marked the entrance to Ravenclaw's common room. She wrung her hands nervously. 

_Honk! Honk! _

Pamela whipped her head around, only to see a neon blue convertible racing down the hall at her. Frozen with shock, she allowed it to pick her up with the curious forklift attached to its front and flip her into the front seat. A chauffer dressed in a blue uniform tipped his hat. "Evening, ma'am. You seem a bit out of your element. Perhaps I can help with that. Where to?" He adjusted the rearview mirror with a mischievous smile. 

"Wh-wh-who are you?" Pamela squeaked. 

"Long version or short?" 

"What?" 

"Karilonius Intrilmik Pinrafotat Prelentical Eddiepus Rhadamanthus. You still haven't told me where to," he added. 

"Please slow down!" yelled the queasy Pamela. 

"Okay." The car stopped dead, the passenger's side door flew open, and the seat rotated so that she could clamber out quickly and easily. Car and driver disappeared with a small pop, leaving in its place a giant blue eyeball. "I seeeee yooooou," came a singsong voice, apparently from the eye. 

"Stop!" she cried, now frightened. As the eyeball changed into a cerulean stop sign the size of a tapestry, the sound of a roaring motor came from the other end of the corridor. "Do you hear that?" 

"Stop signs don't have ears," he said irritably. _Pop! "But elephants sure do." _

A little pink convertible, just like the one that had picked Pamela up minutes ago, came zooming down the hallway, chasing after Geoff Thatcher, a Ravenclaw about the same age as Pamela. The woman in the front seat of the convertible donned a bright fuchsia dress with lipstick and sunglasses of the same color, and was laughing a little madly. "YOU CAN RUN, BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE! HAHAHAHAHA!!! YOU CHIP MY PAINT, YOU SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES!!!" 

"If I'm correct," said the blue brick wall placed between the pink car and its prey, "You can Shift right back into a perfect paint job in less than a second." 

For a moment, the driver gaped at the roadblock. An instant later, there was a can of pink spray paint in place of the car. It sprayed "Kippette" on the blue wall, then turned into a little pink blob. The wall, likewise, Shifted into a blue blob. The blobs went off down another corridor, leaving Geoff and Pamela in confusion. 

"Er…d'you know the way back to the common room?" Pamela asked, blushing. 

"Are you _sure _I wasn't wearing it yesterday?" Juno said the next morning. 

"Yes, of course I'm sure. I remember you kept bringing your hand up to play with a necklace, but there was nothing there." 

"All day?"

"All day." 

Juno slammed shut the drawer that she'd been looking through. "This is like when you lost that little ice skater last year." She fell back onto her bed in frustration. "So not good…" 

"Okay, spill it," Lily demanded. "What's such a big deal about it?" 

"It was a…a present. A Valentine's Day present." 

Lily couldn't hide a grin at Juno's blushing. "From Remus. That's probably the cutest thing I've ever heard of." 

"Look who's talking! You and James are probably the cutesey-est couple around. At least Remus and I don't go spreading our cute all over the bloody castle," she said, smiling nonetheless. 

"Why _do _you keep it a secret?" 

Juno shrugged. "Just more fun, I guess. Besides, he said something about his mum didn't want him to date. Beats the you-know-what out of me why not, though." 

"Probably because-" Suddenly, Lily broke off. She knew perfectly well why Remus's mother wouldn't want him to date, but it suddenly occurred to her that Juno might not know. And even if Juno _did _know, she might not know that Lily knew, so she might let on that she didn't know just so that Lily wouldn't know that she knew. 

Feeling a little dizzied by this train of thought, she went down to the common room and left Juno to look around a little more. In the common room, Julia Thomas and William Baxter chatted in a corner, trying to complete their History of Magic essays before breakfast. Lily glanced sideways at them – had the sofa gotten bigger, or were Julia and William just shorter than she remembered? Come to think of it, Lena Riley and (mercifully) Eva Sinclair appeared to be a little smaller, too. While Lily racked her brain to remember if she had accidentally gotten in the way of an Engorgement Charm or something, the Marauders came down the dormitory stairs. Sirius was definitely at his normal height, and so were Remus and Peter, but James…when James came over to say hello, Lily knew there was something wrong: They were eye-to-eye with one another. 

"Whaddya think?" Sirius joked. "James's the Incredible Shrinking Quidditch Captain!" 

**A/N: _Ha. We know you didn't really read the one at the beginning. You were just eager to get to the story, weren'tcha? We know how you operate. We also know that you probably like contests. Yeah, isn't that right? So here is a contest for all our loyal readers and reviewers. _**

_We have the last chapter of this big fat fanfic all written, right down to the last word. We know that JKR (that publicity freakazoid, lol, no offense to her, seeing as w/out her, we would've been bored the past two years) has told all of us that the last word of HP is "scar." *Ariana says, "What? I didn't know that." Clara stops for a second, gives Ariana a funny look, and keeps typing.* Anyway. The contest is as follows: The first reader who correctly guesses the last word in the last chapter of "Lily" gets a cameo!!! We will write you into a chapter. And keep the guesses flowing, but only one guess per review. Have fun!!! _

_*As the chapter is posted, a small scuffle can be heard as Clara makes fun of Ariana for not knowing the last word yet, seeing as JKR has been saying it for about as long as we've been writing this. At this comment, Ariana says "REALLY???" with wide eyes, and Clara wonders what she has been smoking. The kooky laugh does not help. The authors' duel continues, and the muses take over in uploading.*_


	66. Shrinking Gryffindors

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, 2000-2003

**A/N: Happy New Year to all you loyal fans!  :o) By the way, this chapter is, ironically, a little short.**

P.S. Nobody has guessed right on the contest yet!!  Keep 'em coming, everyone.  Here are the wrong guesses so far: 

Love

Always

Me

Lily

James

Harry

Forever

Scar

Marauders

Potter

Dancer

Light

Voldemort

Kipper

Musicbox

**Disclaimer: Professor Machiavelli is ours.  **

**Lily**

Chapter 66

It was definite: Gryffindors were shrinking all over the place.  And all of them had been sitting near Lily, Juno, and the Marauders the previous night at dinner.  After about ten minutes of bewildered conversation in the common room, they went to the Great Hall for breakfast.  

"This is really weird," said James, who by now was about nose-level with Lily.  

William Baxter snorted.  "You don't know the half of it."  He looked positively dwarfed by the chair he was sitting in as he reached for a plate of toast.  "How's it coming, Julia?" 

"Not too well," came the voice of Julia Thomas from (quite literally) behind a spellbook.  "I can't find a single spell in here that would have done this to us!"   She clapped the book shut and set it down.  "Maybe it was some kind of potion."  

"In the food, you mean?  But we all ate the same thing last night."   

"Right, and James is, so far, the only leprechaun among us," Sirius cracked.  

Lily thought for a second, then leaned back in her chair.  "How about the punch?  There was a big bowl of it, wasn't there?  And I didn't have any.  Did you, James?" 

He was about to answer when McGonagall walked up behind them, holding something in her fist.  "Miss Frese?" 

"Yes, Professor?"  

"A house-elf found this in a punch bowl last night."  She dropped a gold necklace, with a charm that said "Juno" on it, onto Juno's napkin.  "I assumed it was yours."  

"Er…yes…thank you…" Juno fastened the necklace around her neck and tried to avoid the piercing glares she was now getting from William, Julia, and James.  

McGonagall nodded.  "Keep track of your things.  And you, Potter-" she pointed sternly at him. "Sit up straight."  

By around one-thirty at Quidditch practice, James was decidedly less imposing of a figure than a Captain ought to be.  "Harvey, speed it up!"  he squeaked.  "And Eva!  Don't you even give me that excuse that 'the club is bigger than you!!'"  

"Shove it, Potter!"  Eva shrilled, since the club really _was bigger than her by this point.  _

"That's IT!  Go back inside!  I don't need that today!"  

Eva swooped down to the grass and dismounted, imperiously shoving James's shoulder.  "Fine!  What if I don't _want to practice today, huh?  HUH?" _

"Fine!"  

"FINE!" 

"**_FIIIIIINE!" _**

"Fine times ten!"

"Fine times infinity!" 

Lily looked down at the two waist-height combatants and felt severely weirded out.  "Did your maturity shrink with your bodies or something?"  Instead of reacting, Eva launched herself at James with a high-pitched roar.  After they had each gotten a few good pinches and scratches in, Lily grabbed James and picked him up like he was a two-year-old.  "What is going _on with everyone?" _

"Ask Juno," James grumbled as Eva stalked back to the castle.  "And put me the _hell down!" _

Lily hesitated for a second before dropping her three-foot boyfriend to the ground.  "First of all, don't swear at me like I'm to blame.  Second of all, you don't know that it was Juno." 

"Her necklace was in the punch bowl!  Who else would it have been?" 

"Well, how can you be so sure that it didn't just fall off when she was reaching for something else?" 

"How can _you be so sure that she's innocent?" _

Lily took a deep breath.  "I'm not going to fight when you're in such a bad mood." 

"Fine!"  

Eva, James, Lena, William, and Julia had to stand on their chairs at dinner.  The professors had, of course, caught on by then that there was something wrong (even though it was a Saturday, and there were no classes), and some of them couldn't help giggling when they looked at the Gryffindor table.  The Slytherins had been predictably insufferable, with more than enough comments about how the Gryffindor Quidditch team now had "a few _little problems."  _

Dumbledore stood up and clapped his hands for silence.  "I'm sure that all of you have noticed the…er…small issue among several Gryffindor students."  A loud whoop of laughter came from the Slytherin table, presumably Severus Snape.  "Indeed…and also, I'm sure that you all have your thoughts as to its origin.  If there is any _factual information, please bring it to one of the teacher's attention as soon as possible. Professor Machiavelli is currently brewing a potion that should reverse the effects of whatever those students have imbibed, and they will please see me after dinner for a draught of it."  He paused.  "In addition, would Miss Juno Frese please see me after dinner, as well?" _

"Good," William said as Dumbledore sat down.  "Now we'll be normal height and she'll be taken down a notch."  He laughed at his own (horrific) joke as Julia rolled her eyes hopelessly.  

Juno stormed into the common room and slammed her detention slip onto a table in front of Lily, Sirius, Remus, and Peter.  "I've got to mop out Moaning Myrtle's bathroom tomorrow!  And on Monday, I get to be 'special assistant' to the new Divination teacher.  I hear he's a real nut job, too."  

"Can't really be worse than Professor Gadani," Lily pointed out.  

"Right…at least you won't need earplugs."  Remus's grin faded from his face under Juno's withering gaze.  

"You…" Juno gritted out.  "You and your…" she sucked in air.  "YOUR STUPID NECKLACE!!!!" she ripped it off of her own neck without even unclasping it and threw it into his face before scooping Lily Jr. up and storming off to the dormitory.  

Remus sat in shock, holding the necklace.  But Sirius and Peter were giving him identical looks.  "You," Peter said, "Have quite a bit of explaining to do." 

Luckily for Remus, the un-shrunk Gryffindors streamed back in through the portrait hole just then.  James made his way guiltily to the couch and stood in front of Lily.  "Sorry," he mumbled.  "I think the Shrinking Solution messed with my brain or something.  D'you forgive me?"  

Lily narrowed her eyes, but couldn't keep a straight face for long.  She broke into a wide smile and pulled him down next to her.  "Sure I do.  And I'm sorry about dropping you like that."  

Now Sirius and Peter were looking at _her.  "And you two have some explaining to do, too!"  _

"What?" 

"You _dropped him?  Why were you carrying him in the first place?" Sirius laughed.  _

"How romantic," Peter said mockingly.  

"Like you'd know," James shot back.  "Best you've ever done is getting dumped by Jessica."  

Lily pulled her hair back into a ponytail and sat up in her bed to read the History of Magic assignment.  Fifteen pages to read on how Galileo had managed to keep his wizardry a secret in the sixteenth century…and all she could think about was James!  Especially this late at night, the words on the page seemed to jump around, just begging for her to stop focusing on them and think about someone else for awhile.  So instead of Galileo, it was James that filled her mind.  The sound of his voice, the way he held her hand, his hair (which he never quite got under control, but frankly, Lily found it charming), and, of course, his kisses.  They had kissed a few more times since Valentine's Day, and Lily was starting to really, really, really like it.  

She closed the book and sighed.  Suddenly, Juno spoke.  "Lily?  Are you still awake?" 

"Yeah.  What are you doing up?" 

There was a brief silence.  "It wasn't me." 

"What?" 

"It wasn't me.  I didn't put the Shrinking Solution in the punch.  Someone framed me." 


	67. Of Teachers, Stairs, and Invitations

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, 2000-2003

**A/N: A new Divination teacher, a new month, and then, a surprise! In the words of the new teacher, "Whoopeee." **

**Lily**

Chapter 67

"All right, everybody shut up!"  Came the playful, reedy voice from the new Divination professor.  "I'm Professor Trombley, but call me Newton." 

"Your name's Newton?" 

"No, it's Aaron.  But call me Newton." He dropped his lanky frame into a rotating chair and propelled himself across the room with a blast from his wand.  "Which one of you is Juno Frese?" 

Juno raised her hand, and 'Newton' rolled over to her desk.  "And you're my 'special assistant,' is that right?"  He put finger-quotes around "special assistant." 

"Yeah." 

He looked at her with a benign kind of sarcasm.  "So what'd you do?" 

"Huh?" 

"What'd you do that was so bad that they made you my 'special assistant,' whatever the heck that's supposed to mean?" 

"Oh."  Juno grinned.  "They said I put a Shrinking Solution in the punch at dinner." 

"Well, whoopee!"  Once again, he rolled his chair backwards to the front of the room.  "Tell you what.  You tell me what delusional psychopath painted this room white and I'll tell Professor Dumbledore that you were the best 'special assistant' a teacher ever had, and we'll call it even." 

"Professor Gadani," Juno said promptly.  

'Newton' let out a short laugh.  "I already told you, it's Trombley, and I also already told you to call me Newton." 

"No, I mean, Professor Gadani was the one who painted the room white."  

He paled slightly.  "Gadani?  As in Fiorenza?" 

"Yes…" 

"She isn't still around, is she?" 

"No…" 

"So, you're saying that she couldn't legally be violating a restraining order or anything – not that I put a restraining order on her for stalking me viciously after our two-week relationship!" 

The class laughed, and Juno couldn't help but toy with him a little.  "Well, last I checked, she _might _still be hanging around the castle and packing up her things…" 

"All right, that's enough of that!" he said, springing to his feet.  "So, besides how to dodge flying glass shards, what did Fiorenza teach you?  You." He whirled on Vanessa, who was laughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath.  "Stop laughing or I'll kill you."  It was that strange, harmlessly sardonic tone again, which made Vanessa's laughter redouble.  "Ok.  Anyone else?" 

A Ravenclaw boy raised his hand.  "I think we never got past the crystal balls." 

'Newton' stopped and leaned back against the white wall, looking severely out of place.  "I don't know why I teach this subject.  There are probably more opportunities for dirty jokes in this class than in any other.  Anyway, would anyone want to help me paint the walls for the first couple of classes?  I think a nice taupe would suffice…" 

Lily rubbed at a spot of paint that hadn't come out of her hand yet.  Taupe, Professor Trombley had said, but at the last minute, he'd decided on a garish sort of teal.  She scribbled out an answer to question four on her History of Magic homework (which had been ballooning to ridiculous volumes lately) and was skimming the text for something that would finish it well when James sat down next to her on the couch and put an arm around her waist.  "Hey," he said, and kissed her as an afterthought.  She closed her eyes and savored the feeling of his lips closing over hers, which always took her a little by surprise, no matter how many times she tried to anticipate it.  That was the one thing that struck her about kissing James like this – it was never disappointing.  She could never help smiling when they pulled apart.  

"Hey what?" 

He moved a little closer and put both his arms around her, taking her hands in his.  "Hey, are you in the mood for an adventure?" 

She leaned her head back against his chest.  "What kind of adventure?"  

"Well…d'you remember how I said that we don't exactly have every bit of Hogwarts on the map?" 

"No…" 

"Well, we don't.  So every so often, we've sort of got to…" he paused, looking down at her face as though he would rather keep doing that than finish his sentence.  Lily felt the same way.  For a split second, her breath caught in her chest and her heart seemed to pound like there was something more than 'like' at work here, but the spell broke after a moment.  "Expand our horizons, I guess.  Want to come explore?"  

Under cover of the Invisibility Cloak, they made their quiet way to the last hallway on the Marauder's Map.  They walked to the end of it, a stone wall covered with a large painting of a young blonde girl singing, and took off the cloak.  The girl looked up with surprise.  "Oh, hello there," she said, grinning broadly.  "Where did you two come from?"  

"Gryffindor Tower," Lily explained.  

"Isn't that where the Fat Lady lives?  Or at least, just outside it?  Oh, I do envy her, and all those other portraits downstairs.  I don't get many visitors, you see, except for that vile Sir Cadogan.  He's always convinced that I'm being carried off by a dragon or something."  She sat down in a ratty white chair and adjusted her low-brimmed hat that made her look something like she'd come out of the 1920's.  "So what are your names?  And what are you doing back here anyway?  Oh, you aren't lost, are you?  That would just ruin this, because I'd feel so bad if you were lost, I only ever meet people when they're lost – you are lost, aren't you?" 

James smiled.  "I'm James, and this is my girlfriend, Lily, and no, we're not lost, we're trying to make a map."  

"A map!  That's wonderful!  Can you put me on it?  I'd love to sing for people, if they came by more often.  Would you like to hear me sing something?  Everyone I sing for tells me I'm rather good, but I don't know.  What do you think?"  

"Well, we heard you singing as we walked up, and that sounded pretty…" 

"_Really?__ That's just…oh, gosh, that's just…gosh!  You really think so?" _

Quite overcome by this Anna/Professor Gadani combination, Lily and James nodded.  

"Great.  Splendiferous.  Fantastic.  Say, you don't think Headmaster Dippet would be willing to hang up some pictures of sheet music so that I could use it for myself, do you?"  

"Dippet?  Dumbledore's headmaster now," James said, now taking a few steps toward the picture and tapping the stones in the wall around it.  "I don't mean to interrupt you or anything, but is this a secret passageway?" 

The girl looked at him strangely.  "That's kind of a funny question.  Not that I know of, but then again, nobody _does _come down here, like I said."  She turned to Lily.  "So the new headmaster, he'd get some pictures of music for me, right?"  

"Maybe if I asked him for you," Lily replied.  

"Well, you know, my favorite is jazz.  Like Ella Fitzgerald, d'you know who that is?  She's-"

A sudden rumbling drowned out her words as the wall swung out slowly like a giant door.  "Found it!" James said exuberantly, and grabbed Lily by the hand, pulling her up the wide staircase revealed in place of the wall. 

They paused on the stairs to light their wands, since there were no torches or candles on the walls.  There was a thick purple carpet running up the center of the stairs, a carpet that giggled whenever you stepped on it like the footsteps were ticklish.  Needless to say, this got tiresome after about thirty seconds.  

"I can't take this much longer," Lily declared, stopping dead in her tracks and grabbing James's arm.  

"Come on, the top can't be all that higher anyway.  Just keep going."  

_Hehehehehehehehe__!!!! _

Another minute later, it was James's turn to have had enough.  "What psychopath built these stairs?" 

"Whoever it was sure wanted to keep something out of reach."  Lily stopped again and leaned on the polished wooden railing.  She glanced back down to where they started from.  "Why can I still see the wall?  It looks like we've been climbing for about three seconds."  

And indeed, it took almost no time at all to reach the bottom.  A good deal of up-and-down revealed that no matter how far you felt like you went, you will still be the same height up from the bottom.  And that carpet would never….NEVER…stop giggling.  

James sat down on a step and indicated for Lily to do the same.  "There is absolutely nothing here," he said weakly.  

"I wouldn't say that…" 

"Oh, really?  Name me one thing that's here.  One thing besides the ruddy carpet, that is."  He pounded the rug with his fist, only letting out a burbling scream of giggles that made the situation all the more irritating.  

Lily felt like she wanted to say that _they _were here, she and James were, and that was more than nothing, wasn't it?  But it sounded too corny, so the most she got out was to put a hand on his shoulder and say, "We-"

He turned and looked at her.  "What are you doing?" 

"Nothing, I just…" As though reading her mind, he suddenly kissed her, and kept kissing her until they both ran out of air.  Even then, they barely separated their faces at all, and Lily only had time to whisper, "Something like that," before there it went again, without any words that she could think of, and with his hands actually running up her arms to her face, like they were in some sort of movie.  It took a while for her to gather her thoughts enough to realize that this was what was called 'making out,' and she felt a little embarrassed that she hadn't figured it out earlier, but decided to concentrate instead on kissing.  

Lily didn't know how long they sat there kissing, but it eventually faded into conversation.  "I absolutely can't believe this is actually happening," James admitted.  "I've been trying to get up the nerve since I was in third year." 

"Really?  I've sort of been on and off since _first _year," Lily laughed.  "Well, more off than on, at first." 

"Why's that?" 

"Well…" James would be the only person she'd actually voiced this to, but, she reminded herself, if anyone, it should be James.  "It was right before Chrissy died that I _started _to like you, right?  And after, Dumbledore told me that you-know-who wanted to hurt me inside before he hurt me outside, like by killing the people I loved."  The words brought a chill to her that she hadn't felt for a long time.  Why had Voldemort been so quiet lately, anyway?  For the first time, it worried her.  "And…and I started to try and make myself not get close to anyone.  Then it happened again, with Chantel.  And again, Eurydice.  Everyone I get close to gets hurt, even you.  Remember when we got lost with the Floo powder and he was using that curse on you?  That's what I mean.  That's…" she broke off, afraid that if she kept talking, she'd cry.  

He was silent for a second, but then he put an arm around her and let her put her head on his shoulder.  "That's pretty awful, is what it is.  I can't even imagine – is that why you've always been sort of arm's-length with Juno?" 

"Well, that and she can be sort of a controlling prat sometimes, but yes," Lily said, smiling a little, "That's the main reason.  And I'm really afraid for you now that we're…you know…us."  

"Ok, time to stop thinking about it!"  James said jokingly.  "Time to think about…polar bears!"  

"_What?" _

"Polar bears!  They're big, they're white, they like cold weather – any thoughts?" 

"How do you get from there to polar bears?" 

"It's the gift of random topic-changing in uncomfortable situations.  Sirius taught me."  He grinned.  "It's either polar bears or I make the carpet start giggling again."  

March went out like a lamb, but April brought its customary deluge of rain.  Sirius had to wait until a brief period of sunshine to bring his motorcycle down to Hagrid's cabin for fear that it would rust.  On the first of May, though, an owl delivered a square, cream-colored envelope for Lily.  

_You are cordially invited to the wedding of Miss Petunia Evans and Mr. Vernon Dursley_

_At six o' clock in the evening _

_On _Thursday the sixteenth of May, 1969____

"Petunia's getting married!" she exclaimed.  "But…" suddenly, a look of hurt came over her.  

"What's wrong?" said James, a bagel halfway to his mouth.  

Lily's voice dripped irony.  "Well, it's on my birthday, for one thing.  And for another thing, she added a little p.s. in her own handwriting.  'Nobody at the wedding is going to know about your abnormality, and I don't expect that they will afterwards.  Don't bring any friends.  Dress like a normal person.'  Why would she be inviting me to begin with?  She hates me."  

"'P.P.S.'," Remus read off of the back from across the table.  "'I'm only inviting you because Vernon says that all my family members should be there. Two…'" he trailed off as though he had read the rest of the sentence and decided against it.  

"Two what?" Peter tactlessly inquired.  

Lily turned over the invitation, read the p.p.s., and stuffed it back into the envelope with tears in her eyes.  "'Two less, thanks to you.'"  


	68. Mixed Drinks

© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, years 2000-2003

**_A/N:_** Okay, okay, okay, maybe the guessing-the-last-word contest thing was not the best idea ever.  There have been 32 – count 'em – 32 guesses, and not a single correct one thus far.  Here are some wrong ones:  **Night, Wonderful, Family, the End, After, Music box, Kipper, Love, Dancer, Forever, Fuzzy (what?), Happily Ever After, Kiss, Lily, Scar, Harry, James, Always, Me, Marauders, Potter, Light, Voldemort, Dead, Stronger, Away, Black, Power, Evans, Dursleys,  Back, Goodbye.  That's both pathetic and understandable, everyone.  Would you like a hinty-hint?  *watches reviewers nod politely or attempt to attack us* Okay then.  The last word is a proper noun.  Cheap, I know, but don't you have a better shot at it now?**

And we're awfully sorry about how long this is taking.  We both have a very demanding course in _real history, so we can't really concentrate on Lily's.  Not to say that reality is better than fiction.  You know where we stand on that one ;O) _

**_Disclaimer:_** JKR owns the setting and MWPP/L.  We own the plot, Chantel (RIP), Chrissy (RIP), Professor Lollio, Perry Mifflebey, Vanessa (she has no last name?), Juno Frese, Eurydice Ramsey (RIP….?), Professor Francisca McBride, Amelia Black (RIP),  Jessica, Anna, Kipper, Kippette, Lily Junior (cat), Pamela Vancouver (poor soul), Eva Sinclair, Quinn Baker, Michael Daehn, Ella Vourassa, Lena Riley, Tommy Rillton, Irene Hamilton, Brittany Morrison, Brendan Christenson, Harvey Locksmire, Sarah Abbot, Robert Archy, Orpheus Berry, Lotus Bone, Eva Ingsa, Robert Marley, Miriam Forsythe, Nick Johnson, Professor Trombley, Professor Gadani, William Baxter, Julia Thomas, the Calabrese Opera Witches, Professor Mace, Adam Morse, Mr. Lyons, Professor Machiavelli, Geoff Thatcher, Paul, Julie, Jess, and all the odd quirks you notice in the story that aren't featured in the Harry Potter books. 

**Lily **

_Chapter 68_

Lily walked down the hallway to Charms, decidedly miserable.  It was her birthday.  Fifteen years old and not a single "Happy Birthday."  And why should there be any, when everyone knew perfectly well that it was destined to be a horrible birthday – she had a seat booked for four-thirty on the Knight Bus to take her to Petunia's wedding.  And the dreaded event was sure to take too long for any birthday celebration to take place after she returned.  "Exams are coming up, too, Lily, so we should really get enough sleep for classes," Peter had said, speaking for all the Marauders.  "Maybe this weekend, we'll grab some sweets from Honeyduke's or something and steal a few exploding candles at Zonko's.  Okay?" 

Of course it wasn't ok!  There had to be some way to get out of the wedding.  Hell or high water, she'd take one or both.  But then again, maybe Petunia would act halfway decent towards her.  Remus had pointed out the perk of free food, but to tell the truth, Lily wasn't feeling very hungry.  She shifted her books from one arm to the other, then jumped slightly when the smaller book, a blue one she wasn't accustomed to seeing, suddenly whispered, "I wonder if I might have a word with you." 

She rolled her eyes, ducked into an empty classroom, and set the book down on a desk, where it promptly Shifted into a feather duster and busied itself dusting the desk.  She started to walk out again, saying, "Listen, Kipper, I'm going to be late.  Don't mess with me today.  I'm in a terrible mood." 

"But I-"

Lily slammed the door behind her and kept walking.  Just as she was thinking that maybe she wouldn't be late after all, Sirius jumped out into the middle of the hall and threw a pillowcase over her head.  "What are you doing??" she shrieked, as she felt all four of the Marauders hoisting her up and carrying her along.  

"Shh!" 

"Yeah, we're under the Invisibility Cloak, so don't worry."

"Relax, Lil, you've memorized the Charms book anyway." 

Not too sure why, she kept quiet until her captors set her down and took the pillowcase off of her head.  She looked around, smoothing her hair self-consciously, and recognized the entrance to the Dissendium passageway.  Juno must have joined them at some point, because she was there, too, grinning just as broadly as any of the boys.  "Okay, what's going on here?" 

James handed the map back to Sirius to erase it.  "We've kidnapped you.  It's your birthday, and that means it's your job to have fun." 

"You, little missy, were not completing your job," added Sirius. 

"So we had a powwow and decided to give you a hand.  Do the job for you!" Remus said.  

"We're taking you to Hogsmeade whether you like it or not," Peter said, opening the passageway and climbing in.  

Remus followed, then Juno, saying, "Happy birthday!", and Sirius.  

James looked at her with eyebrows raised.  "What d'you think, Lil?" 

She hesitated.  "I really shouldn't be skipping class like this…" 

"C'mon." He grabbed her hand and tried his best to make a sad-puppy-dog face.  

Lily laughed, kissed him, and jumped into the passage with the rest of them.  

"Evenin', miss," said the conductor of the giant purple bus, tipping his hat congenially and stepping aside so that Lily could make her way to the back.  

She smiled at him and ran her fingers through her hair to comb out any confetti left over from the Marauders' noisy celebration at the Three Broomsticks.  It had been roughly two hours long, and Kipper had tried to intrude about a dozen times, insisting that he had to talk to Lily about something.  Every time, they found a new way of telling him to sod off, and he found a new way of telling them that they'd be sorry.  The last time, though, he showed up in the form of a blue-clad fairy godmother and screeched at Lily, "Oy, pumpkinhead, you're going to miss the bus!"  

As the bus started up, Lily reached into the bag she'd brought along.  Inside were a "normal" blue dress, a fancy snowglobe wrapped in shiny paper, and a copy of Little Women, which she had been reading for awhile.  Juno had insisted that she bring Lily Junior along, so the cat now slept peacefully on the empty seat beside her.  She pulled the book out and set it on her lap, and no sooner had she noticed the extra blue bookmark than it flew out of the pages and took the form of a little blue Chihuahua.  Instantly, Lily Junior's eyes shot open, but then, as though blue Chihuahuas were a dull, everyday occurrence, the eyes closed again and Lily Junior went back to sleep.  

"Kipper, you really can't keep following me like this." 

"I know.  If you'd just let me talk for twooo seconds, I wouldn't bother you again." 

"Can't it _wait?_" she said, exasperated. 

"I could wait, but the thing is that…well, where do I begin?" 

As Kipper searched for a good starting point, the bus stopped, and Lily noticed a wizard trundling by with a huge cloth suitcase that was unzippered on one side.  Seeing her opportunity, she seized the tiny blue dog and stuffed it into the suitcase just as the wizard stepped off the bus.  "There!" she sighed, and went back to her book.  

Forty-five minutes later, Lily disembarked herself, and, with Lily Junior waiting obediently outside the public restroom at a Muggle fast-food place, changed into her dress for the wedding.  She looked at herself in the mirror and thought hard about what she wouldn't be able to say or do.  "I'm in pretty good shape," she thought, remembering the summer before when she and Sirius had ended up in a Muggle mall.  "At least I know what a pretzel is." 

She was in the church early and saw all the other guests file in.  When the wedding march finally started playing, Petunia came sweeping down the aisle with who Lily assumed to be her soon-to-be father-in-law.  Lily fought to keep down giggles at Petunia's layers upon layers of crinoline and lace.  Really, there could not have been much of a reason to turn herself into a human blizzard.  She was icy enough as it was, with a snobbish, triumphant expression that said plainly to the world, 'I win, you lose.  Let's play again.'  And naturally, she didn't even notice her sister sitting there in the fourth pew from the front.  Not even when Lily had to lean over and pretend to tie her shoe or something because she was laughing so hard at the groom – Vernon Dursley, when asked whether he took Petunia to be his lawfully wedded wife, promptly grunted, "I am." 

But all in all, the wedding went off smoothly. 

It was the reception that got a little more interesting.  

Lily sat down at a table with four people she'd never seen before in her life.  The only boy was about Lily's age, maybe a year or so older, round-faced with glasses to match and a pitiful attempt at a Mohawk with blonde tips.  He sat immediately to her right.  On his right was an angry-faced girl with shoulder-length auburn hair and enough black eye makeup to make her blue eyes stand out like tiny diamonds in the rough.  Then, to her right, a girl who needed and wore no eye makeup – her giant cerulean eyes looked like stone orbs in her pale face, contrasting her brown hair.  And on Lily's left sat an absolute caricature.  She had the exact same eyes as Vernon, so Lily presumed her to be his sister, disappearing beneath yellow frills that did not hide her enormity…or her puppy.  A bulldog sat in her tremendous lap and ripped mercilessly at a bone.  The woman stroked the monster and cooed over him, saying, "Of course, I've been simply _dying _for a male since Miffy came of age, so that they could breed.  I've always wanted to breed bulldogs, and Colonel Fubster's been an absolute gem about it all, the old fart.  He's promised to give me all his dogs when he retires.  Can't happen soon enough, if you ask me, he forgets to feed the poor creatures half the time…" 

Lily toyed with her napkin and stifled a yawn, watching the other three people at the table take in this stream of chatter in their own ways.  The two girls seemed to act as one – or rather, the girl with huge eyes acted as a mirror for the other's actions.  If the auburn-haired one glanced up at the clock in tedium, so did the other.  They would nod, look at each other to assure unison, and nod again.  It was rather strange, Lily thought, and began to wonder, with friends like these, why Petunia would ever consider _her _to be abnormal.  

Suddenly, the boy reached over and poked Lily in the side.  She jumped about a foot out of her chair and stared at him.  He was smiling as though it had been a really clever gesture.  "What are you _doing?_" she hissed.  He just kept grinning, looking supremely idiotic, and poked her again.

"Paul," said the auburn-haired girl, interrupting the dog talk abruptly, "You don't even _know _her." 

"Sod off, Jess," he whined.

"Erm, I was saying-" began the dog owner. 

"Sod _this _off!  And quit poking her, it looks like you're grabbing her arse from this side of the table!" she turned to her friend.  "Doesn't it, Julie?" 

"Well, looks like either her arse or her…well…" there was a scandalized pause, then Jess and Julie burst out laughing. 

Paul sat back in his chair, blushing.  "I can't ever do anything right…" then he glared at the two hyenas.  "Go to hell!"  For a second, he reminded Lily of Peter.  

The bulldog suddenly put his paws on the tablecloth and started lapping up tea from the saucer.  "Ripper!  That's frightfully ill-mannered!" 

"Marge, it's a dog!  What on earth d'you expect?" said Jess in a terribly low, sarcastic voice.  Without waiting for an answer, she took off her hat, lifted up her arms, and started fanning her armpits with it.  "Gor, I'm sweating like a monkey…"

"Don't be so bloody rude!" yelled Julie, still with a huge smile on her face. 

Paul poked Lily again. 

Jess continued fanning herself.  "C'mon, it's ridiculous to have a wedding on such a hot day anyway.  Besides, you were a dozen times ruder when we were playing hangman the other day, that was a _highly _inappropriate sentence you made me guess…"

"Well, it was true.  Martha's an absolute slut…"

Paul poked Lily again, this time harder and with an even bigger grin.  

"If I might continue what I was saying!" boomed Marge.  

"And you might not!" said Jess.  

Paul poked Lily, and she let out a squeak that could have shattered his glasses.  He giggled. 

"PAUL!!" raged Julie.  "STOP GRABBING HER-"

"I'm going to get a drink!" Lily shouted, snatching up her glass and stomping over to the bar.  To hell with the legal drinking age, this was the worst birthday ever, and she deserved some sort of respite.  Maybe butterbeer…

"What's your poison, dearie?" intoned the bartender, a reasonably cute young man wearing a bright blue uniform that clashed horribly with the yellow decorations.  He must have noticed Lily staring at it, because he smiled both heart-meltingly and self-consciously and said, "I've gotta work for some other company, eh?  So what'll it be?" 

She'd cooled down considerably since being in the thick of all that insanity, so she simply rubbed her side and asked for a Coca-cola, having realized that butterbeer was probably not on the list of options.  There was a twinkle in the bartender's eyes (which matched his uniform, actually, which was a little strange) as he slid a tall glass of soda across the bar to Lily. "I added a couple cherries and a little umbrella for ya," he said, winking.  

Lily gave him an unmistakably sideways look, downed the cherries in one bite, and took a gulp of the soda like it was her last hope for sanity.  There was a little bit of a too-sweet aftertaste as she walked back to the table, so she turned around angrily.  "Did you put sugar in this…?" 

But he had walked away, nowhere to be seen.  

"Must be going on break, all the better for me," she muttered, taking another sip of that hypersweet soda.  

As Petunia and Vernon took the floor for the first dance of the reception, Paul suddenly poked Lily again.  She hiccupped this time – he must've gotten her right at the diaphragm or something, she thought.  Then she decided to poke him right back.  

As if he hadn't been smiling widely enough already, he grinned so hard it looked like his ears were going to blow off the sides of his face.  "Whoa!" 

"Oh, come _on_," Lily chuckled.  "That didn't hurt you, you've got enough cushioning!" For a second, he looked hurt, but she kept giggling, so he smiled again and poked her in the stomach.  She poked him back, and before she knew it, they'd gotten into a regular poke-war…and he had grabbed her and pulled her over onto his lap.  

All of a sudden, Lily felt the pressure of three very pointed stares coming her way:  The black-rimmed daggers from Jess, the wide, surprised circles of Julie, and of course, Marge's little scrutinizing piggy eyes.  She turned bright pink, climbed down from Paul's lap, and mumbled something about having run out of Coke.  

She watched very carefully this time as the bartender, who'd mysteriously reappeared, turned his back, poured in the ice and the Coca-cola, and then did something that Lily couldn't really see, but presumably, it was just the cherries, and this time, a little plastic sword.  And the sugar again, she thought to herself, as the first sip had the vague sweetness at its edges again.  He was sitting there the whole time with one eyebrow cocked and a flirtatious smirk on his face.  With a tone to match, he said, "Something wrong?" 

"No-o-o," she said, leaning over the bar. "It's very sweet, isn't it?"

He winked again, and Lily was struck by the blueness of his eyes. "So are you." 

She giggled, almost tripping over the hem of her dress on her way back, and did not notice that as soon as the bartender turned away, he disappeared completely and turned into a blue rose in a blue vase on the bar.  

Three Kipper Coca-colas later….

Lily laid her head down on Paul's shoulder and threw her arms dramatically around his neck, knocking over Jess's glass of wine in the process.  "Oops!  I'm sorry about that.  It matches your dress, anyway – hehehehehehe!" She was yet again on Paul's lap, and she grabbed the glasses off of his face and put them on hers.  "Y'know, my boyfriend has glasses too." 

Taken aback, Paul said, "Your boyfriend?"

"Ah, he knows I'm here.  I know him from school.  He's such a…a _geek!_" she adjusted the glasses.  "But it's better, I guess, since he always fixes his glasses right away.  Never uses masking tape, mm-mm!  So I suppose he looks like less of a geek.  He should really fix his _eyes, so he wouldn't need glasses at all, y'know?  He's got pawzzzitively __gorrrrrgeous eyes.  They're grey.  Like yours, Paul.  Nooo, wait…your eyes are brown.  Brownish-grey.  And you're a good kisser.  I mean, he is.  I mean…hey, I wouldn't know, he's the only one who's ever kissed me!"  She hiccupped, then the goofy smile dropped off her face.  She grabbed Paul's face between her hands.  "Wanna give me something to compare him to, Paulie?"  Much to the hypothetical dismay of a sober Lily, she fastened her lips over his in what was quite possibly the sloppiest kiss in the history of man.  Then she looked around at everyone at the table, wiping her mouth with the tablecloth.  "Both of you have blue eyes.  I don't like blue, because I met a perificator once who was always blue.  I'll bet you don't know what a blue is.  I mean a perificator." _

"I'm sure I don't," Marge said icily.  "Get off his lap and stop making a spectacle of yourself, you filthy drunk!" 

 Lily stared at her for a second, then leaped down from the chair and walked around the back of Paul.  She stood on her tiptoes next to Marge, but still was not as tall as her.  "Just a minute," she slurred, and gathered up her skirt in one hand, using the other to climb onto her own chair.  "Do you have any idea," she said to the top of Marge's vast blonde head, "The trouble you could get yourself into by saying that if I had my _wand?" _

"Your _what?" shrieked Jess.  _

"Oh, shut up, you bony sack of snob!  And Julie, it's not really charming to always agree with her.  As a matter of fact, I'll bet people would like you better if you just hauled off and whacked her in the jaw one of these days.  Yes, my wand!  I'm a witch.  Mm-hmm.  I could turn you all into toads right now if I wanted to." 

"I knew a Wiccan once, and you can only do abstract sorts of spells," said Jess.

Julie rolled her eyes. "Carrots, you're such a liar." 

"That's probably true…and I'm not a Wiccan, I'm a _witch_.  I go to school and get taught by wizards and witches, but they're grownups, of course.  Hogwarts School of Witchway and Wizardcraft…Hogsmarts Fool of Witchgrift…um…something like that.  I skipped a year, too!  I'm a bloody genius!"

"You're a bloody _lunatic_," said Paul.  

"You're a sucky kisser," she shot down at him.  "And if I had my wand right now, so help me, you'd all be toads.  Then again…I'm almost as bad at Transfiguration as you are at kissing, Paul.  You know who's better at Transfiguration is James." She felt strange at the name.  "James," she repeated.  "My…boyfriend…who's good at Transfiguration."  A shaft of guilt pierced her murky brain like light in an attic.  "And I kissed you…" her stomach turned.   

Suddenly, a hard hand fastened itself around Lily's wrist and pulled so sharply that Lily lost her balance and tumbled to the floor, her forehead striking the side of Marge's chair as she went.  Against white starbursts of pain, she made out the furious, horse-faced figure of her sister, Petunia, looking like the White Lady of Death in her wedding gown.  A fiery hatred was in her eyes that Lily firmly believed could have scared her to death if she hadn't been infinitely more frightened in her lifetime.  Then she spoke the first words that had passed between them in years: "_Get away from my wedding.  I never want to see you again_." 

The pain in her forehead, the nausea in her stomach, and a new inky blackness started gathering at the edges of her vision.  She felt the vague sensation of being picked up and carried, then the sound of a door closing behind her, and just darkness after that.  


	69. Love, love, love

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****

**A/N:**  Here's a little secret, everybody…we've had this written since the day chapter 68 was posted!  Hahahahaha, witness the POWER of the authoresses!  Anyway, this is the one where Clara's fluff drive gets to go into fifth gear.  GOLLY GEE, it was fun.  *mmuah* lots o' love!

After a vast amount of guesses from you lovely readers, we've finally come to the last word of our fic and of course a winner!  Yay!  Congratulations to Cool Like Ice for her guess of Peter.  Wonderful job everyone!  Thank you.      

No disclaimer.  They suck.  :o) 

**__**

**__**

**_Lily_**

_Chapter 69_

_Lily was sick.  She and Petunia had been lying in their beds, flu-ridden, for three days.  Petunia spent most of the time sleeping, or whining at the top of her voice for her mum to bring her chicken soup or a magazine.  She insisted that she wouldn't be well enough to go back to school for at least two weeks.  Mrs. Evans just sat on the edge of the bed, folded down the sheets, and said, "We'll see how you feel." _

_As it happened, the next day found Petunia up and about, jumping and heckling Lily.  Their parents made an executive decision that Petunia was going to school, much to her chagrin.  As she whined and pulled on her Mary Janes, Lily pulled the covers up around her own chin.  "You're so lucky," Petunia said.  "They always buy it when you fake sick."_

_"But I'm not faking!" she yelled, teeth chattering with fever. _

_"Of course you are.  You just had to beat me, just had to get one more day off!  You're such a little Miss Perfect, it makes me sick just to look at you!" With an over exaggerated flounce of her hair, she shut her eyes tight and walked out of the room.  Lily felt horrible – what if her parents thought she was faking it too? She heard her father say, "Petunia, did you say good-bye to Lily?" _

_"I never want to see her again!" _

_Then the door slammed and the bus pulled away, but Mrs. Evans walked in to find Lily, hiding under the blankets with tears smudged all over her cheeks.  "Lily, love, you know Petty didn't mean it."  _

_"Yes she did!  She hates me!"_

_"Shh…" a cool washcloth appeared in her hand, stroking Lily's burning face.  "Shh…you're all right…you'll be fine…"_

The fuzzy consciousness of her dream slipped away, but there was still that cool washcloth tracing the edges of her hairline.  "Lil?  Lil, wake up.  C'mon." 

She opened her eyes to a searing sunlight in an empty reception hall with floor-to-ceiling windows.  Squinting painfully, she saw that it was Kipper, in bartender form, looking genuinely worried.  She was suddenly filled with anger. "You!" She swatted his hand away and jumped up with the intention of running away.  

He turned into a blue hand and took her shoulder, gently putting her back down in the chair.  "If you'd just let me explain…"

"What is there to explain?? You followed me to my sister's wedding, put something in my drink, and let me make a complete fool of myself…right?"  

"Is that actually a question, or do you know the answer?" he cringed, which was strange, since he was now a blue flag.  

She paused for a second, then put her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.  "I remember Petunia yelling at me, and I remember that the people at my table were all really mad…what did I do to make them so mad, Kipper?" No response.  "Kipper?" she looked up, and saw only a blue telephone.  

"Kipper, due to intense fear of dismemberment, cannot answer your question at this time.  If you'd like to leave a message, dial #6 – beeeeeep!" 

"Come on, I'm serious," she said, her voice trembling.  

He turned back into the bartender, but younger this time – about her age.  "Please don't get mad at me." 

"I'm already mad at you.  I promise not to hate you forever, though." 

"Ah, good enough."  He leaned forward in the chair and took a deep breath.  "You flirted with me.  You flirted with Paul.  You told everyone about your boyfriend.  You then proceeded to kiss Paul for approximately fifteen seconds.  You climbed on the chair.  You yelled at Marge.  You called Jess a bony sack of snob.  You told Julie that she should punch her in the jaw.  You…" he swallowed and pushed his chair back a little bit.  "You told everyone at the table – and I'm sure several others heard you – that you were a witch and that you went to Hogsmart's Fool of Witchgrift and Wizardcraft.  Then Petunia pulled you off the chair, said she never wanted to see you again, and I felt really guilty, so I carried you in here to sober up…then to hide because I thought I saw a few Ministry wizards in the lobby." 

Her face was a mask of shock, frozen with her mouth half-open and her teary eyes bulging out of their sockets.  "And now…"

"I don't know where they went." 

"But why…"

"You _did _stuff me in that old wizard's suitcase." He ran his fingers through the dirty-blonde hair that he'd Shifted into.  "I know it's no excuse.  Especially since all that happened." 

She got up, wordless, and walked unsteadily to the window.  A few tears fell out when she blinked, but she didn't bother to wipe them away.  

"I'm sorry." 

No response, still.  

"Hey, I promise I won't tell anyone." 

She moaned. "God, what am _I going to tell everyone?" _

"Just tell 'em the truth." 

"No!" she turned and faced him, jaw set angrily.  "I mean, how would you feel if there was some other…other…_perificator_ in the world, and she was a girl, and she went to a party or whatever without you, and when she came back, she had to explain to you that she'd kissed some random tub of lard who was poking her???" 

He stood quietly.  "I got a few things outta that.  A, you have the capacity to construct impossibly long sentences.  B, you're really angry at me, because you know perfectly well that "perificator" is a derogatory term.  C, you are really crazy about James if that's the first problem that's come to your mind.  D, you need to be filled in on a few details."  He whistled, sending a cacophony of bells through Lily's aching head, and with an apologetic smile and a wave of his arm, gestured towards a large, neon-pink piece of broccoli that was walking out of the pink-patterned wall (which promptly reverted to its natural tan).  "This is Kippette, Lily."  The broccoli changed into a pink UFO, then a girl wearing a tight pink dress, pink sandals, pink sunglasses, and pink nail polish. 

"Hi."  She extended a hand to Lily, and Lily was almost too shocked to shake it.  "I'm sorry about what Kipper did.  It was my idea…"

"It turns out I'm not the only Shape-Shifter left," Kipper said, and put an arm lovingly around Kippette's shoulders.  

"And you two are…" 

"Married, I guess," said Kippette, holding out her left hand, where a bright blue wedding band stood out on her third finger.  "He's got a pink one." 

"Yep.  We hightailed it to Las Vegas and got hitched the night before last!  In human form, of course…it's fun to be a person!" 

"It's always worked for me," Lily muttered dazedly.  "But I still can't believe you did that to me.  Did you intend to keep pouring that…that tainted soda down my throat until I died?" 

"No, just until you'd…amused me…sufficiently…" he sounded so guilty that Lily almost wanted to forgive him.  

She walked over and stood right in front of him.  "Look me in the eyes," she commanded, and when he did, she pulled back her Beater's arm and cracked him across the face with all the fury that was in her.  And apparently, that was a formidable amount of fury, because he hit the floor like a ton of bricks – very like a ton of bricks.  Exactly like a ton of bricks, because that's precisely what he Shifted into as he fell.  

Kippette just stood there, laughing so hard that Lily thought she might faint.  And for a second, Lily forgot that there was so much to explain when she got back to Hogwarts.  She even forgot about the Ministry wizards who might be hunting for her right at that moment.  She just smiled and watched Kippette laugh at Kipper, and realized that maybe it was true that there was one perfect person for everybody.  

"Has anyone here ever heard of chrysanthemums?" 

Most of the hands shot up, but Lily's was delayed for a moment as she pulled away from reassuring herself that there were no Ministry wizards on her trail.  After all, if they had wanted to find her by now, they most certainly would have.  

"Good, good.  Has anyone ever used chrysanthemums for any purpose other than as a pretty flower?" Professor Trombley, clad enigmatically in a Muggle tuxedo and eating a styrofoam container of Chinese food with his feet up on the desk, surveyed the few sarcastic hands raised around the room.  "I mean Divination, sickoes."  The hands dropped.  "That's what I thought.  Well, when I was working for an Apothecary in London, I learned all about different kinds of flowers and what they foretell.  Then I forgot all of it.  But I've been talking with…er…a friend of mine lately, and I'm re-learning.  Again." He grinned, and Lily heard a few of the silly girls in the front row giggle.  Lynn Hartwith had said on several occasions that Professor Trombley had 'raw charisma,' whatever that meant, and that he was 'reasonably young.'  Nobody ever wondered what _that meant.  _

"You will find a vase – vahze? – I prefer vase, really – of chrysanthemums on your table."  All the students looked to the center of their tables and saw nothing there.  "Oh, yeah." He put down the chopsticks and picked up his wand.  A muttered incantation later, and there was indeed a vase of chrysanthemums on each and every table.  "So here's what you do: rip the head off one of the little things, hold it in your cupped hand like so," he demonstrated with a piece of Hunan Bean Curd, "and repeat over it, _Luminax__ Amorus, thinking hard about that special someone.  Capice?  Good.  Now be quiet about it while I go get some saki or something to wash down this Oriental glop.  Freezie, you're in charge," he said, calling Juno by her 'Teacher's Assistant' nickname.  _

Lily took off a chrysanthemum blossom and looked at it for a second.  "I wonder what it's supposed to do." 

"Probably in the textbook," Juno said. "Lazy git…" 

"Excuse me?" said Lynn Hartwith, rising as though her personal dignity had been challenged.  

"I mean charming lazy git," Juno spat.  "Sit down, you hormone sponge." 

"Hmmph!" Lynn sat haughtily down and continued to whisper _Luminax__ Amorus, Luminax Amorus, and nobody doubted what 'special someone' she was thinking hard about. _

"Eurgh.  This is the third class in a row when we've been doing love prophecies.  They only take up a page and a half in the book!" Juno took the chrysanthemum head viciously and cursed when it was smashed in her hand.  "It's like Professor Lollio gone entertaining." 

Lily giggled and set down her chrysanthemum.  "Something wrong with that?" 

"Well, not all of us want to think about romance all the time," she said, with a scornful look towards Lynn.  "And not all of us are so consistently lucky in love." 

"Mind if I ignore that last part, O Biting One?" 

"Fine by me." 

"Good.  What's going on?  Is Remus being an idiot?" 

"Shh!" Juno looked fearful, like the last thing she wanted was for Lynn and all her friends to know that she was a lovesick fool herself.  "If he is, I'm not about to tell anyone about it.  No offense, Lil, I just don't want to turn you against him or anything.  I'm just very jealous, that's all." 

"Jealous of what?" 

"Nothing.  Do the chrysanthemum thingy." After about ten seconds, she pounded the table.  "Vanessa." 

"Vanessa, Ravenclaw Vanessa?" 

"What other Vanessas do you know?  Remus insists on still flirting with her, and it drives me insane!  I've told him time and time again how jealous it makes me, but he just says that if he didn't flirt with other girls, it would be obvious that we were going out, and the secret would just be completely blown.  I don't want that, of course…" 

There was something in Juno's tone that told Lily that she _did want that.  "Of course," she said dubiously.  _

"But still." 

"Yeah." 

Juno growled.  "He is the most imperceptive, insensitive, brainless, presumptuous, un-caring, idiotic, hopeless, impossible, stubborn clod that ever lived!" Lily was quiet, watching Juno crush another chrysanthemum to smithereens, then pluck another, smiling.  "And he's all mine!" 

A Hogsmeade weekend came along, though for Lily and the Marauders, it was a terribly uneventful sort of thing: they had been sneaking off to Hogsmeade practically every weekend anyway.  Sirius yawned as they walked in with the rest of the herd.  "Well, another Saturday, another trip to Honeyduke's and all that rot, eh, gang?" 

"Quite…" Remus used a fake yawn to accidentally-on-purpose stretch his arm across Juno's shoulders for a second.  

Juno was apparently in a good mood.  "Hogsmeade is always nice, though, no matter how often I come here.  Or who I come here with."  A discreet smile passed between her and Remus while _she__ accidentally-on-purpose trod on Vanessa's toes.  _

"I dunno, it's raining today anyway," said Peter.  

"Stop being such a pessimist," Lily laughed, shoving him playfully with the hand that wasn't holding James's.  She silently thanked God that the curse let her chide him at least to that level.  

"Yeah, Peter, it's just a little drizzle.  Sun's probably going to come out by lunchtime."  James handed him a Sunny Honey Drop with that fantastic lopsided grin of his, and a dropping feeling in Lily's stomach made her rethink her decision to not tell him about what had gone on at Petunia's wedding.  She wondered if she was going to be able to keep her mouth shut.  

"You'll have no problems with that, dear," said a tiny voice in her ear.  Lily knew it was Kippette, since aside from being a Shape-Shifter, Kipper's bride was partially psychic.  Suddenly, a pink piece of duct tape had fastened itself over Lily's mouth.  "Mum's the word while I'm around!"  And then the duct tape ripped off and flew away to be a pink cloud on the horizon.  

"Ow!" Lily stopped in her tracks.  

James reached over and traced her lips softly with his fingers.  "Awww, did Kipper's girlfriend give Lily a boo-boo?"  He kissed her gently, causing a stab of guilt to jab through her guts with a pain much more acute than that of the duct tape.    "Aaaall better.  C'mon, I've pulled duct tape offa Sirius's mouth dozens of times, and he only yelled when it was superglue-reinforced.  Which is of course quite the story…" 

"And which can of course wait 'til later!" Juno cried, grabbing Lily's arm.  "My ruddy useless owl's broken a wing and I've got tons of post to send out.  We'll meet you boys at Zonko's in twenty minutes!" They stopped right outside the post office door.  "What was _that?_" Juno said suspiciously.    

"What was what?" 

"That look on your face when James kissed you."

"What look?" 

"That look like you didn't deserve it." 

"I don't know what you're talking about.  Let's mail your letters."

Juno grabbed her arm again as she made for the front door.  "Hey.  We're the girls.  We've got to stick together, all right?  I told you all my Remus problems, didn't I? It's your turn to spill it, sister." 

"There's nothing to spill!" Lily insisted.  

"What, are you afraid I'm going to tell someone?  Cross my heart, hope to die, blah blah blah, whatever.  Now spill it." 

Lily looked longingly towards the sky to see if perhaps Kippette could save her, but all she saw was a blue cloud and a pink cloud zipping around in a coquettish game of tag.  "Okay…at Petunia's wedding, Kipper turned into a bartender and put something in my soda, and I got blind drunk and kissed another guy.  Among other things."  

"Right, and I'm the ruddy Queen.  Now what's really going on?" the mocking smile faded under Lily's sincere gaze.  "Are you _serious_, Lily?" 

"Why would I make something like that up?  I would have literally never thought about it if it hadn't happened.  I smacked Kipper so hard he didn't really get up for about five minutes.  He and Kippette are the only ones who know.  And now you.  I'm telling too many people!!" She started into the post office, then turned around abruptly and took Juno by the shoulders.  "You absolutely cannot tell anyone, understand? I am not going to tell James.  He would freak out.  Okay?" 

"Okay," said Juno quietly.  

"Okay!  Now, come on."  

The post office was decorated for no reason that Lily could see.  It was the end of May, nowhere near any big-deal holiday, and she didn't think anyone who worked there had a birthday at that time.  "What's with all the balloons and flowers?" Juno said to the witch behind the counter as she slid the letters over with six Knuts.  

"It's a good-bye party," said the grumpy old woman, tugging uncomfortably at the elastic on her party hat.  "One of our younger whippersnapper's got himself a better job with the Ministry.  Finally passed his exam.  Good riddance, I say, that lazy, sarcastic little – oh, _hello, Nicky, do be a dear an' mail these for ol' Elsie, eh?"  _

"Sure thing, Else," said the tall, blonde-haired boy walking around the counter.  He picked up the letters with a smile, blew a kiss to Elsie, and started towards the owls lining the walls.  He stopped, though, and stared at Lily with a small grin on his face.  "You're…extremely familiar…" 

"So are you," she said, grinning right back.  Would it be too forward to say it?  "Your eyes," she said, almost apologetically.  "They remind me of someone.  A lot." 

"Really?  Well, I've got my mother's eyes."  He took a step towards her and, in true too-good-to-be-true charlatan fashion, kissed her hand.  "Nicholas Johnson.  Pleased to make your acquaintance, I'm sure."  

"Nicholas – Johnson?  Nicky!  It's me!  Lily!" She jumped back and looked Chrissy's brother up and down, wondering why she hadn't taken any notice of him when she was a first year.  

"Lily…who?"  He looked puzzled, and then an almost embarrassed look came over him.  "Not Lily Something.  You can't be Chrissy's little friend…" his smile had disappeared.  

"What's wrong?" 

"I just…you look so…not like a little girl.  Like I remembered you."  He managed a little laugh, more sad than amused, as he started to tie the letters to the owls' talons.  "Like I remember Chrissy."  

Juno was looking at Lily in total confusion, but Lily barely saw her.  She was concentrating on finding something to say that would be all right.  "I…" 

"I dunno," Nicky said.  "That was a real shock.  I just realized that by now, she'd only be a couple years away from graduating.  There's so much that's happened between then and now that she's missed, you know?  It's impossible to think what she'd be like, because anything could have happened."  He finished with the owls and turned around, apparently completely refreshed after that catharsis.  "Lily.  You're in fifth year now, aren't you?" 

"Well, sixth."  

"I do the math wrong?" He pretended comically to count on his fingers.  

Lily laughed and put out her hand to stop the incessant finger-wiggling.  What ended up happening, though, was that he sort of ended up holding her hand, which she instantly pulled away from.  "No, no, no, I skipped a year," she said, cheeks going even pinker.  

"Ah-hah.  So you're a double-threat sort of girl, is that right?" 

Lily glanced at Juno, wondering if _she knew what he was talking about.  "What's that?" _

He smiled and leaned against the counter.  "Looks _and _brains."  

"Hey, Lily!" Juno said, a little bit too loudly.  "Didn't we tell our _boyfriends _that we were meeting them at Zonko's about now?" 

"No, it's not for another fifteen-"

"Come on!" Juno grabbed Lily's wrist and pulled her to the door.  

"Say, Lily Something, I'll send you an owl from the Ministry!" 

"Okay!" and she let Juno drag her back to reality with the unreal blue of Nicky's eyes swimming in the back of her mind.  

They stopped in the middle of town, right near a large stone fountain with a chorus of magically trained birds singing "Sweet Adeline" perched on it.  Juno sat down on the edge and indicated that Lily do the same.  "I know you've just been irresistible lately, _Lil, but you need to keep yourself in check, got it?"_

"What are you talking about?" 

Juno rolled her eyes and imitated her friend, "Ohh, Random Guy at Petunia's Wedding, I think I'll kiss you and not tell James about it!  Hey, Way-Too-Old-For-Me Post-Office Worker Who I Have No Real Connection With, let me flirt shamelessly with you while my boyfriend waits across town!" 

"That was definitely too cruel, Juno!" Lily exclaimed indignantly.  Then she sat there for a moment and looked sheepishly down at her hands.  "Was I really flirting with Nicky that bad?" 

Juno splashed Lily in the face with the shockingly cold fountain water.  "Did that _just occur to you?" _

"I'm serious, Juno!" 

"So am I!  Lily, hon, you were creating enough electricity in there to short-circuit your average Muggle car.  Now, need I remind you that you are no longer 'on the market,' if you don't mind me being so crude, and I know that you don't."  

"Thanks.  I think.  Since you seem to be the law keeper of relationships, I suppose I should ask your permission to owl Nicky back when he sends me a letter."  

"When he sends you a letter?  _If _he sends you a letter, Lily.  _If_." 

Lily was in the Entrance Hall, walking back from dinner late.  She was a little angry with herself, in fact, for staying in there so late, since there was really not any reason to do so.  Her friends all left before her, and she had a truckload of homework to tackle when she got to the common room, but she had just sat there, picking at a dish of pudding and contemplating why she was being so inconstant.  

Still without an answer, she had set out, walking slowly and having in-depth conversations with the portraits.  After about seven pictures, a page boy in a silver frame pointed with a scroll and said, "I'm quite sorry, milady, but there be a teacher coming down the main stair, and while I should never tire of thy company, 'tis far too late to be up and about without penalty." 

"Oh!  Thank you," she said, and didn't quite pull off a curtsey – or an escape – as Professor Trombley walked into the entrance hall.  He swung around the lion at the bottom of the stairs and stood expectantly facing the railing with his arms open.  Lily stepped forward.  "Professor Trombley?" 

"Miss Evans!  What are you doing-"

He was cut off by a shrill "Geronimooooooooooooo!!!" and Professor Lollio sliding down the banister and somersaulting off into his arms, kissing him square on the mouth.  "Mmmmmm, juuuuust liiiiike cinnamoooon!  I've got myyyyy baaaaaag waiting on the frooooont laaaawwwn so we can make a quiiiiiiick escaaaaape, sweeeeeeeet thiiiiiiing." 

Professor Trombley set her down, a little embarrassed.  "Your timing's off, Theosphania.  There's a – er – a student."  

"Oh."  Professor Lollio still had one hand protectively on Professor Trombley's chest, as though Lily's eyes could hurt him.  

And in an instant, Lily understood what was going on.  "You two are…running off together, aren't you?" 

"No!"

"Of coooouurse nooot!" 

"How dare you suggest such a thing?" 

"The neeeerve!" 

Then, a pause, and Professor Trombley shrugged, pulling two pieces of parchment from his pocket.  "I don't suppose you'd mind bringing these two weeks' notices to Headmaster Dumbledore for us?" 

"Aren't you supposed to give those two weeks in advance?" 

He threw the papers into the air.  "I've always rather sucked at deadlines.  But I'm good at setting dates, aren't I, Theosphania?" 

"Thaaaaaat youuuu aaaaaaaare, Aaron.  Thaaaat yoooouuu aaaaare."  

And right in front of Lily's eyes, Hogwarts lost a Divination teacher and a Herbology teacher…to love.


	70. A Very Unusual Quidditch Final

**A/N:**  OKAY!  This is a big deal.  Book five…well…threw us off in major ways.  We've come to a very important conclusion: 

**We COMPLETELY disregard ALL evidence put forth in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  **

Just thought we needed to make that perfectly clear.  This fic is based on books one through four ONLY.  Okay?  Okay. 

**Mondo**** Disclaimer Thingy:  JKR owns the setting.  We own the plot, Chantel, Chrissy, Professor Theosphania Lollio, Perry Mifflebey, Vanessa (no last name…hm, we oughta get on that), Juno Frese, Eurydice Ramsey, Professor McBride, Amelia Black, Jessica, Anna, Kipper, Kippette, the Kips, Lily Junior (cat), Pamela Vancouver, Eva Sinclair, Quinn Baker, Michael Daehn, Ella Bourassa, Lena Riley, Tommy Rillton, Irene Hamilton, Brittany Morrison, Brendan Christenson, Harvey Locksmire, Lynn Hartwith, Nick Johnson, Elsie, Sarah Abbot, Robert Archy, Orpheus Berry, Lotus Bone, Eva Ingsa, Robert Marley, Miriam Forsythe, Geoff Thatcher, Paul, Julie, Jess, William Baxter, Julia Thomas, Calabrese Opera Witches, Professor Mace, Adam Morse, Mr. Lyons, Professor Machiavelli, Professor Trombley, Professor Davis, Professor Gadani,  Elric LaFarge (the bigmouth), Cindy Lemmon, Kim Blessed, Brian Faulkner, Pratik Tyzack, Laura Seed, and Milo Castle. **

You get a cookie if you actually read through all that. 

**Lily Chapter 70 **

"I suppose you're all getting very tired of hearing this," Dumbledore said over breakfast in the Great Hall, "But we have a new Divination teacher!  Not to mention Herbology.  It seems as if Professors Trombley and Lollio have chosen to…elope.  So I suppose it would be more appropriate for me to refer to them as Professors Trombley and Trombley now.  Ah, well, no matter.  Professor Davis will be filling in for Professor Trombley. The first one, I mean."  A tall, husky, blonde woman wearing grey robes stood up and bowed briefly to bored applause.  Dumbledore nodded to her and she sat back down.  "And filling in for the second Professor Trombley, formerly known as Lollio, will be the aptly named Professor Sprout."  Several students giggled at her name and her slightly grubby appearance as the young witch acknowledged them.  

Everyone went back to their breakfasts, except James, who was flipping through his Quidditch playbook and muttering to himself.  "Prongs," Sirius said, plunking a plate of pancakes down on top of the playbook, "You're obsessed." 

"Yeah, loosen up a little," Remus said.  He speared a piece of pancake on a fork and held it up to James's face.  

"But the finals-" James protested, but Remus shoved the pancake into his mouth as soon as he opened it to talk. 

"Are on Monday night," said Lily.  "And today's Friday.  There's plenty of time left to figure out how to kick Ravenclaw's butt, okay?" 

James's mouth was too full to talk.  He stood up and pointed at the team, sitting nearby.  "Prffss hnnit!"  And with that, he stormed out of the Great Hall with his playbook.  

They all sat and tried to decipher what "Prffss hnnit" meant.  The general consensus was that he was informing them that there was "practice tonight," and they weren't about to risk his anger by not being there, practice or no.  

And they were right, apparently, because by the time Michael Daehn, the last one to arrive, trotted out onto the field with his broomstick, James was developing a twitch in his left eye.  "Where.  Have.  You.  _BEEN???**" **_

Michael picked up the Quaffle and tossed it into the air.  "Ease up, Potter, you didn't even tell us what time it'd be." 

"Do I have to tell you _everything?_"  Nobody answered.  "Fine!  Let's get down to business, and I don't care if we're practicing until tomorrow morning!" He motioned for everyone to sit down around the miniature model of the Quidditch pitch that Lily had given him for Valentine's Day.  Seven of the players were wearing red robes, and seven were in blue.  He poked two of the blue players.  "Now, Ravenclaw has VERY strong Beaters.  They do most of the work on the team, and that's because their Keeper…" James lightly tapped another blue player with his wand. "Is completely rubbish at his job.  They need their Beaters to have a monopoly on the Bludgers in order to have any hope at defense.  So basically, we need to train Eva and Harvey until we can't train them any more.  All right?  All right.  Let's GO!"  

Lily sat in the stands and watched.  Sulked, really, is more the word for what she was doing.  Despite her initial reluctance, she now missed playing Quidditch, and after what James had just said, it was unlikely that she'd even get a chance to practice before the finals.  Not that there would be any reason for her to, as Harvey and Eva were a legendary duo on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and James wasn't about to change anything.  Lily hummed to herself and fiddled with the hem of her Quidditch robes as the rest of the team flew around above her.  James cruised around in search of the Snitch, but he looked over to Lily, waved, and flew to her.  "Hey." 

"Mm." She gave him an indifferent sort of smile.  

"You're mad about something." 

"It's nothing." 

"If it's something, it's not nothing." 

"Shut up." 

He rolled his eyes.  "Lily, I know it's kind of strange that you're not practicing with us, but it's the last one before the finals.  We need to get the plays together with the team as it's going to be in the game, ok?" 

"Yeah…" she leaned back and put her elbows on the bench behind her.  "I get it.  Still gets to me, though."  

"My fault.  I made you practice this summer," he grinned. 

"Right, you got me addicted to Quidditch."  Lily waved him off with a smile.  "You go play.  Slaughter Ravenclaw on Monday, but before that, let's sneak out and relax in Hogsmeade."

"Sounds good to me." 

"Something that explodes!" Sirius yelled.  "I need something explosive!!!"  

"You don't need anything more than you've already got," Remus said.  "Your fireworks started to go off under your bed the other night, could've woken the whole Tower up!" 

"Really?  I didn't hear anything," Sirius said absently. 

"That's because you wear earplugs in your sleep so you can't hear Wormtail snoring," James joked, shoving Peter playfully with the arm that wasn't around Lily's shoulders.  

Sirius groaned.  "I'm serious, I need a bomb or something!" 

"We know your serious, Sirius."  Peter said.  

"PLEASE!"  Suddenly, Elric LaFarge, a seventh-year Ravenclaw boy, materialized next to them.  "That was almost as bad as Will Baxter's jokes," he said, a look of contempt on his face.  "And definitely worse than your Quidditch playing, Potter." 

James scowled.  "What are you doing here, Elric?" 

"Someone...some Gryffindor, probably…stole my Quidditch robes for a joke.  Professor Machiavelli gave me permission to come here to buy a new set."  He drew his bushy black eyebrows together in confusion.  "While we're at it, what are _you _doing here?"  

Everyone exchanged looks that must have looked very peculiar and suspicious to Elric.  "None of your business," Sirius growled.  

"What, are you going to make something explode on me?  Give it up."  He whirled on Remus.  "Where's Juno?" 

Remus's face went red.  "Probably back at the school, why do you ask?" 

He shrugged his broad shoulders.  "Well, Potter brought his girlfriend…" His eyes made a quick visit to Lily's chest while he kept talking to Remus.  "Figured you'd have brought yours." 

James, Sirius, and Peter gawked.  Elric obviously did not know what he'd said.  "She's not my girlfriend," Remus said tensely. 

"Yes she is.  My sister's been screeching about it for weeks." 

"Your _sister?_"  

"Yeah.  Vanessa.  Don't tell me you're that blind – Vanessa LaFarge?  Elric LaFarge? We kind of have the same last name."  He gave them a terribly condescending look.  "_She's sure not blind.  She's pretty jealous, too.  I pissed her off yesterday and she tried to strangle me…you'd better be afraid, Lupin."  _

Sirius's eyebrows had disappeared into his low-hanging bangs.  "Well, well, well." 

Remus glared at Elric.  "Great.  Thanks for the warning." 

"Nothing but the almighty truth from me," Elric said, grinning and walking away.  "To _everyone_," he added.  

There was a long pause.  Lily stared at the ground, and everyone else stared at Remus.  He looked back at Elric's retreating figure and mumbled, "I wonder if that was a threat…" 

"Threat?  You're worried about a _threat?"  Peter shrieked.  "There are __other things for you to be worried about right now!" _

"Like what?" Remus snapped. 

"Hmm, where do I begin?  First of all, Vanessa has very long nails.  She could do some damage," Sirius offered. 

"Plus, now we sort of know that you've been snogging Juno." 

"Yeah.  Not a good thing, Moony." 

Lily spoke up.  "So what?  If they've been going out, they've been going out.  Doesn't really make any difference now…" 

There was yet another long silence, but this time, everyone was watching Lily.  "You knew about it, didn't you?" James said finally.  

"N-no…" 

"Yes you did," Remus said bitterly.  "Juno must have told you.  This is great.  Juuust great."  He started off toward Honeyduke's, presumably to go back to Hogwarts, but stopped and shouted back, "Sirius, don't you DARE buy anything that explodes!!" 

Professor Davis glanced disgustedly around the Divination room on Monday.  "Why are these walls teal?" 

Juno was sitting with her head miserably resting on the table.  She raised her hand and spoke in monotone.  "Because Professor Trombley wanted them to be." 

"Well, he's not here anymore."  She drew her wand.  "_Propimachi__!"  Instantly, the walls changed to match the color of her (now light blue) robes.  "There's a useful little decorating charm for you.  Except for that one time that I used it in a bathroom.  Everyone knew when I was taking a shower." _

The class's collective eyes grew to the size of crystal balls as they tried to decide whether she was kidding or not.  

"All right.  Now, Dumbledore tells me that Professor Trombley had been using a lot of Herbology-based Divination with you.  I'm not surprised, considering that little horticulture tart he ran off with."  She adjusted her robes uncomfortably.  "Can you believe I paid three Galleons to get this stupid outfit fixed up?  And it still bunches around…well…you'll see what I mean when I turn around, now won't you?" 

"What the…?" 

Professor Davis turned and trained her oddly set blue eyes on Vanessa, who had spoken.  "What the _what_, Miss…" she consulted a seating chart. "Miss LaFarge?  What the _hell_, perhaps?  I really don't like people who don't finish their sentences.  You know, my first husband was like that.  That could be why I moved out.  He made me leave the poodle, though, but that's all right with me, because that dog used to do the worst things to people's legs at parties…My second husband was a different story altogether, though.  Got all the way to the honeymoon before I noticed a ruddy great Dark Mark on his left forearm.  Ah, well, the twelve hours I was married to him were pretty good."  

Lynn Hartwith looked like she was going to cry, and Lily didn't blame her.  Professor Davis was even a disappointment for those of them who _hadn't had a freakish crush on Professor Trombley.  _

"Quinn?"  

It was the pre-game practice.  

"Quinn?" 

Tempers were running high. 

"Quinn, can you hear me?" 

But Quinn Baker was low.  

"Quinn, if you can hear me, blink."

Very low.  Grass-level, in fact.  As they had been practicing, a purple bird had flown out of nowhere and smacked Quinn in the side of the head. Now he was lying on the grass just outside the locker room, twiddling his thumbs and humming, gazing past the team, who was gathered around him.  

"He's _completely_ out of commission," Lena Riley said.  

"No!"  James said desperately.  He reached down and pulled Quinn up by his robes' collar, propping him up against the locker room door.  "You're FINE!" he shouted into his face.  Quinn's hazel eyes still didn't focus, and the stupid smile didn't disappear from his slightly freckled face.  In frustration, James pulled out his wand, pointed it at the wound under Quinn's cinnamon-colored hairline.  "Reparo.  REPARO!  REPARO REPARO REPARO!!!" 

It took the entirety of the Quidditch team to wrestle the wand out of James's hand and convince him that Reparo was only used for objects.  "Look," said Brendan Christenson, "Eva and I will walk him to the Infirmary.  But there's no way he'll be ready to play before the game." 

"But…that means…" James looked helpless. 

All the faces were somber.  "Forfeit," Michael whispered, his eyes down.  

"We can't play with six people," Eva said as she and Brendan started to march Quinn away.  

James pointed around at everyone, counting.  "But there _are seven, minus Quinn."  _

"No, there's six.  Seven players on a team, one gone, that means six, Potter." 

"Great.  He's finally gone barmy," Harvey said.  

"Too many playbooks…" 

"Listen!"  James stood up, regaining his dignity.  "There's seven:  Michael, Brendan, Eva, Lena, Harvey, me…and Lily." 

Lily shook her head immediately.  "No.  No bloody way.  I can't Chase.  I'm a Beater." 

"No, you're a _reserve_," Eva said rudely. "That means that you'd better be ready to do whatever we damn well need you to do, and right now we damn well need you to be a Chaser." 

"Look, Lena and I can really handle most of it," said Michael.  "You won't have to do so much, just be the extra person.  You can catch, right?  And throw?  That'll be enough." 

Lena threw the Quaffle at Lily.  "Whaddya say, eh?  More girl Chasers than boys.  It'll be fantastic." 

Lily looked down at the large red ball in her hands, then around at the pleading eyes of everyone (except Quinn, who still had not blinked).  She didn't know what to say.  "Would you get him to Madam Pomfrey?"  She demanded.  "God knows what all those Reparo spells did to his brain." 

Harvey continued doggedly.  "Will you play?"

She squeezed the Quaffle and wondered if she'd ever be able to get through this game.  "Sure, whatever."  

James let out a whoop of joy.  He grabbed her and lifted her into the air, spinning around.  "Lily, I could just kiss you!"  

"After the game, Potter," she said grouchily.  "You owe me." 

"I do.  I owe you.  Anything you want, and it's yours, trust me." He kissed her frantically.  "But for now, just go play." 

They practiced for about ten more minutes, everyone nervously giving Lily pointers, until the Ravenclaw team took over.  When it was finally time to play, the teams formed up on the field.  A tiny purple bird, exactly like the one that had hit poor Quinn in the head, circled Lily a few times, then landed on her shoulder.  "You know, it's all your fault," she muttered to it.  "I can't Chase.  We're going to lose the game because of you.  James is going to go bonkers." 

Much to Lily's shock, the bird replied in a tiny voice,  "Jeez, I'm sorry, my daddy said it was lots of fun being a bird, so I decided to give it a try…he never told me how to fly, though, just how to get around that mirror place he's always talking about."  It hopped down to her broom handle and changed swiftly into a purple blob of slime.  "Can you forgive me?" 

Lily goggled at the purple thing.  "You're a shape-" But she was interrupted by the whistle signaling for the game to start, and the Quaffle flying right up in front of her face. Instinctively, she reached out and grabbed it.  

"And the Quaffle is taken by Lily Evans of Gryffindor!  But she isn't moving…c'mon, Evans, goalposts are THAT way!  What's Evans doing with the bloody Quaffle anyway?  I thought she was a Beater.  No matter, she hasn't got it anymore…ooh, and neither has Lena Riley, had to drop it to duck that Bludger aimed at her head, nice Bludgerwork by Elric LaFarge.  Here comes Cindy Lemmon of Ravenclaw with the Quaffle…no goals scored yet…" 

As the commentary continued, Michael and Lena gestured for Lily to stay near the Gryffindor end of the pitch.  Galling though this was, she stayed, pretending to know exactly what strategy they were running.  

"Ooh, looks like the reserve player's been benched again," taunted Elric, flying a little too close for comfort.  "But you don't look as pissed off this time, that's for sure."  His eyes once again flicked idly down to Lily's chest.  "Shame.  You're kinda cute when you're angry." Elric had a special gift for being benevolent, annoying, and flirtatious all at once. 

She rolled her eyes.  "Are you hitting on me or playing Quidditch?" 

"Oh, see, I'm very talented, Leelee.  I can do a lot of things at once."  He smiled so hugely that his hairline crinkled, and used his Beater's club to edge her robes up her leg.  

Lily grabbed the club away and hit his knuckles with it.  "I'm going out with _James, you idiot!" she yelled as she flew off and decided to be of some use as a Beater.  _

"What in the name of…" Ella's voice was surprised.  "All right, about a thousand things are happening, everyone!  Evans steals LaFarge's club and starts whacking a Bludger towards Kim Blessed and Brian Faulkner of Ravenclaw, they stop their Quaffle relay and scatter, Michael Daehn is right there to get the Quaffle, he brings it up the field…and he scores!!...at the same time that Ravenclaw Seeker Laura Seed sees the Snitch and runs for it, it doesn't look like Potter's going to get there in time; he's at the other end of the field…this could be a quick game…OH!" 

Suddenly, a Bludger came out of nowhere and knocked Laura Seed in her slender midriff.  She doubled over on the broomstick, her sandy blonde hair falling into her face.  Every eye in the stadium turned to Pratik Tyzack, the other Ravenclaw Beater, who had enigmatically hit his own teammate with a Bludger as she was about to catch the Snitch.  

Pratik's mouth was hanging open.  He was blushing, looking around apologetically at all of the boo'ing fans, and pointing at Lily.  "I meant to hit _her," he shouted.  "I wanted to get Elric's club back!  I didn't mean to hit Laura!" _

"Very nice," Ella said bitterly.  "We're sure Tyzack will sleep easy tonight knowing he very well might have lost his team the game.  The game's been timed-out.  They're making Evans give LaFarge his club back.  Good move, though I'm still in the dark as to why she's Chasing this match.  But here goes Kim Blessed with the Quaffle, Harvey Locksmire pursuing her a little vehemently, wonder if it's because she dumped him last week, in any case, he doesn't get there in time – ten points for Ravenclaw!" 

"All tied up, Leelee," Elric said in a singsong voice.  "Well, that's how _I like it, anyway." he let loose another one of those innuendo-filled grins from his tanned face and flew away.  _

Lily would've hit him if Lena hadn't passed the Quaffle to her right at that moment.  "Don't panic!" James called.  "The Keeper's about as bad as Peter's breath – just put the ball through the hoop!" 

"I HEARD THAT, POTTER!" shouted Milo Castle, the Keeper in question.  But despite his indignation (or perhaps because of it), he soon proved James right – he let Lily score on him with very little struggle.  He made a rude hand signal at James and continued to loop sullenly around the goalposts.

Ten minutes later, Elric and Pratik, too, had held true to their reputations.  Gryffindor had only scored once more, where Ravenclaw had gotten the Quaffle past Brendan three more times, making the score Gryffindor – 20, Ravenclaw – 40.  The game was running long, but feverish, with a lot of Beating action.  Even Lily, her mind dizzy with the cognitive shift from Beating to Chasing, could appreciate the fact that they were putting on a good show.  

"This game has been a Beater's duel so far!" yelled Ella Bourassa, her voice already growing hoarse.  "The Bludgers are like a good luck charm with Beaters like these.  Ouch, no more Quaffle for you, Lemmon!  Locksmire's fantastic use of that club is throwing a monkey wrench into Lemmon's works right now…" 

Elric roared, "Why would anyone want to throw his monkey wrench into _her _works???" and took a powerful swing at the other Bludger.  It streaked down the field to where Michael held the Quaffle, but Michael was too quick for it: he threw the big red ball to Lily just in time to swerve out of the Bludger's way.  Lily tucked it under her arm and put on some speed, staying relatively low to the ground - her fear of heights had not yet totally dissipated, and she was beginning to feel a little queasy.  

All of a sudden, the noise from the crowd swelled to an oppressive volume.  Ella shrieked, "Potter's seen the Snitch!  Potter's seen the Snitch!  He's diving for it now!  Seed is on his tail, but she's not going to even come close…AND HE'S CAUGHT IT!  JAMES POTTER CATCHES THE GOLDEN SNITCH!  GRYFFINDOR WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP!!!!" 

The Snitch clutched tightly in his fist, James rose above even the goalposts for his victory lap (with the whole team on his tail, as usual).  The team landed and was immediately engulfed by a tide of fans, and McGonagall bringing the Cup to them.  Lena, Eva, and Brendan, being seventh-years, were completely overwhelmed – Eva even forgot their enmity and hugged Lily.  

The night progressed in a blur of cheers and red and gold and butterbeer and candy and small explosions in the Gryffindor Common Room.  Quinn sat off to the side, a magical ice pack held against his head, while various people came up to him and related highlights of the game.  Judging by the way his eyes kept going out of focus, though, he wasn't hearing much of it.  "Madam Pomfrey said he'd be back to normal by morning," Michael whispered hurriedly to James when Quinn began to have an in-depth conversation with a bit of firewood.  

"Well, that's encouraging."  James took a sip of his butterbeer and gave Lily his signature half-smile.  "Then again, Quinn never was quite normal…this ought to be an improvement, eh?" He put his arm around her shoulders as they sat on the sofa.  

Lily closed her eyes and rested her head against his chest.  "I'm so tired...we should be getting to bed soon.  Whose idea was it to have the Quidditch Cup on a Monday night?" 

"Probably the same teachers who'll let us off on Tuesday.  Don't worry about it, Lil!" Juno sat down on the arm of the couch and laid back across both their laps.  "Stay up as late as you want.  This is a _party!_" 

Lily pushed Juno playfully off the couch.  "You're just in a good mood because you and Remus are official now." 

"Yeah, that helps," Juno said, popping a Fizzing Whizbee into her mouth.  "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a snogging appointment.  With my boyfriend.  BOYFRIEND!  Ahhahha!"  

The blue armchair to their right edged nervously closer to them and changed swiftly into a large blue tropical plant.  "Can't risk having that loony sit on me, can I?" it said.  

Lily groaned.  "Kipper…I think we've found another shape-shifter.  It almost killed Quinn during practice today." 

"Really?" Kipper Shifted into a blue cat and perched on the arm of the sofa, right where Juno had been.  "Well, I'm not that surprised.  Kippette actually came from a shape-shifter colony…I'm surprised I'd never come across it.  Thousands of 'em, it's really quite fabulous.  What color was the one that seems to have murderous intent towards your Chaser, hmm?" 

"Purple," James answered immediately.  

"Great.  Got a mirror?" 

Lily pointed over the mantle.  

"Back in a flash with the culprit!" He disappeared through the mirror.  

James looked confusedly at Lily.  "How do you know that bird was a shape-shifter?" 

"It apologized and turned into a purple glob just before the game." 

"Ah."  

Two minutes later, a rather large piece of pink confetti landed on Lily's head.  It was swiftly followed by a handful of purple confetti, and a large blue flake, as well.  They scattered and settled on the empty couch cushion.  The blue one and the pink one turned into a boy and a girl, wearing dress robes of their respective colors.  

James said, "Did you find out who it was?" 

Kippette smiled grimly and held up the purple confetti.  "We have a few…ahem…options, shall we say?" 

"Quite.  Options.  The entirety of our first litter, in fact," Kipper said. 

"Litter?" 

"Yes indeed.  It could have been Kippo," Kipper began, and one of the pieces of confetti turned into a purple bird and hopped to the arm of the couch. 

"Kiptonia," said Kippette. 

"Kippessia."  

"Kipper, Jr." 

"Kippson." 

"Kipless." 

"Kippen." 

"Kipple." 

"Kippeth." 

"Kippington." 

"Kippamere" 

"Kippa." 

"Kippola." 

"Kippy." 

"Kip." 

Fifteen purple birds now sat conspicuously all over the couch.  Lily and James stared open-mouthed at them.  "How long have you two been _married?_" 

"Today's Monday the third, right?  We've been married since May 14…that means …" Kipper turned into a blue calculator.  "Thirty-one minus fourteen, plus three…twenty days."  

"And you already have fifteen babies??" Lily exclaimed.  

"No, silly, shape-shifter litters come in even numbers.  We still haven't gotten to…" 

The last piece of purple confetti exploded from Kippette's hand as a purple bird, identical to its brothers and sisters.  It zipped across the common room, upsetting three trays of party food, shattering a bottle of butterbeer, and finally getting tangled in the curtain behind them.  Kipper pulled it out of the curtain and set it on his knee, where it grinned as sheepishly as a bird can.  Kipper and Kippette looked at each other and said at the same time, "Aloysius."  


	71. The WellLaid Plans of Rats and Men

**_A/N_****: _Shall we grovel? Much groveling is to be done, seeing as we haven't written for approximately FOUR MONTHS, something that we promised we'd never do again. But well, stuff happens. Stuff that we're sure you don't want to hear about, but if you actually do, then do not e-mail Ariana, e- mail Clara. She will be happy to give you the rundown of WHY exactly we haven't written in four months. claraseven@hotmail.com  
  
_Remember how we said we were going to write in the one who guessed the last word correctly? Well, that's what we're doing right now! You'll meet Aurelle Bobbins this chapter.  
  
Without further ado, here's chapter 71. It's a meaty one :o)  
  
_ _**

**Lily **

_Chapter 71_

The post-win bliss was intense, but short-lived. It was hardly a day later when Lily and the four Marauders were summoned to Professor Dumbledore's office.  
  
"I have heard-" Dumbledore began as soon as they were all seated.  
  
"Oh, Lord," James muttered under his breath.  
  
"Elric," Sirius whispered. "I'll kill him with my bare hands."  
  
"I have heard that you five were in Hogsmeade this past Saturday. Is that true?"  
  
They all nodded hesitantly.  
  
"I see. Now." He paused and looked around at each of them. Instead of sounding punitive and angry, his tone was one of surprise and almost admiration. "How did you find yourselves in Hogsmeade without the permission of any teacher?"  
  
Everyone looked towards Sirius, who had gone slightly pale. He cleared his throat. "Well, Headmaster, we were walking around looking for, erm, well, we were walking around, and then we just happened, quite by chance of course, to find a tunnel instead of the door to a classroom, and it led to Hogsmeade, so who were we to not take advantage of such an opportunity?"  
  
Dumbledore's eyes sparkled in amusement. "One of your less believable lies, Mr. Black. May I hear the equally unbelievable truth? Mr. Lupin?"  
  
Remus looked up as though startled from a sound sleep. "Me?"  
  
"Yes, how did you get to Hogsmeade on Saturday?"  
  
"We...um...er...we used a map."  
  
"A map? What sort of map?"  
  
Remus swallowed and looked to his comrades. "A special map?" he offered weakly.  
  
"We made the map," James admitted.  
  
Then Sirius spoke up, truthfully for once. "In our second year."  
  
"It's a map of the Hogwarts grounds, and all the secret passageways." Lily said quietly.  
  
Dumbledore's face was grim. "And you have been using this map since then?"  
  
All of them nodded ashamedly, except Peter, who was looking out the window. He hadn't said a word the entire time.  
  
"Mr. Pettigrew, where is this map right now?" Dumbledore said, prompting him gently.  
  
Peter turned and looked at the headmaster, but gave him nothing except a blank stare.  
  
"Where is the map?"  
  
Another blank stare.  
  
"It has to be confiscated," he said calmly. "Where is it?"  
  
Everyone cringed at the word "confiscated," but Peter just shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." It was a lie, and everyone knew it. James always carried the map; Sirius had too much random garbage in his pockets.  
  
"I've got it, Professor Dumbledore," James said, drawing it out of his robes and handing it across the desk.  
  
Dumbledore inspected it. With a hint of impatience in his voice, he turned it over and over. "It's blank."  
  
"Now it is," Lily said.  
  
Then, much to her surprise, Dumbledore smiled. "Ingenious. If you actually made this as second-years, I commend you highly. Yes, I know what you've done to this piece of parchment, it's obvious from what you've told me thus far. But I think you should know that I myself could not have done this until I had graduated Hogwarts."  
  
Sirius and James smiled. "So, can we have it back?"  
  
"You misunderstand. This is an ingenious article, but still an illegal article. No, the extent of my charity in this case will be to refrain from asking you the password, and to refrain from giving you detentions. But fifteen points will be taken from Gryffindor, and Mr. Filch will keep this map filed away in his office. I won't tell him what it is." He smiled at the map again. "Magnificent. Now go on, go down to dinner, all of you."  
  
As they were leaving, Dumbledore called Lily's name. She paused and turned around in the doorway. "Yes?"  
  
"We have determined where you'll be staying this summer."  
  
Her heart skipped a beat. She had forgotten completely that she couldn't stay with James anymore. "Oh…where?"  
  
"There is a family by the name of Bobbins. Their daughter is a Hufflepuff, a third-year. They live near the Potters, only about ten minutes' walk away."  
  
"That's great!" Lily exclaimed.  
  
"Yes, we took into account that you would want to be close to the Potters. James especially," he said with a sly grin.  
  
Lily blushed. "Thank you, Professor."  
  
"Good-night, Lily."  
  


Lily and Juno sat at their table in the Divination room. Lynn Hartwith was smoothing her hair and chattering annoyingly to her friends. "I hear that the new teacher's a boy. A young boy. I mean, he's not old. Like he isn't as old as Dumbledore, I mean. I hope he's cute."  
  
Juno growled. "If she doesn't stop talking soon, I swear I'll knock her teeth out!"  
  
"Well, I mean, it wouldn't be the same if he were a bad teacher, obviously, but if he were cute, and a good teacher, that would be just the best. Professor Trombley was cute. And he was a good teacher. But the problem is that he was in love with Professor Lollio. That always seems to happen." Then she gasped. "What if this new professor is cute, young, a good teacher, and falls in love with....McGonagall??? That would be devastating! But at least he'd be cute."  
  
"That does it!" Juno said tensely. She got up and pulled Lynn to her feet. "Listen. You would think that a potted plant was cute, providing that it was male. You're boy-crazy. You like ANY man that comes within ten feet of you. I guarantee that you'll think the new teacher is cute. Okay?"  
  
Lynn narrowed her eyes coldly. "You act as though I haven't got any standards."  
  
"That's because you don't." Juno sat back down. "Lily, do you have any earplugs?"  
  
Before Lily could answer, the new teacher walked to the front of the room. Her chair was facing away from the desk, so she heard his voice first. "Hello, class. I'm Professor Montgomery."  
  
There was something familiar about that voice. Familiar, but scary. She froze and looked down at the table.  
  
"I look forward to teaching you. Perhaps I'll have a bit more staying power than your previous instructors."  
  
The class laughed, but Lily couldn't shake the strange feeling in her gut. She slowly turned around.  
  
"So many new faces," the voice said. "I like new faces."  
  
The face that Lily saw when she turned around was anything but new.  
  
"But some of you…I recognize some of you."  
  
It was Perry Miffleby, and he was staring directly at her.  
  


"James! Sirius!" Lily yelled, storming into the common room with Juno at her heels. "I…he's… have you seen…HA!" she was pacing jerkily, the words falling all over each other in her head.  
  
Juno settled onto the arm of a chair that Remus was sitting in. "She's been like this since Divination. She hasn't finished a sentence yet."  
  
"Lily, what's going on?" James said.  
  
"Teacher! The…he's the…remember?"  
  
Sirius looked intently at her. "I think someone hit her with a Babbling Charm."  
  
"Take a deep breath and talk."  
  
She breathed in slowly, and then let the words spill out. "The new Divination teacher is Perry Miffleby and I don't know why he's here but I think he might want to kill me or something."  
  
"Someone else wants to kill you?" Peter observed. "Isn't this getting a little repetitive?"  
  
You shouldn't talk, she wanted to say. "I don't know, he's just - he says his name is Professor Montgomery, but he's Perry Miffleby, I know it!" Then it hit her that Peter probably knew it, too. He had been so quiet lately. He hadn't done anything to her or anyone else since Amelia had been killed. That was a year and a half ago. There had to be something going on. Voldemort always had something up his sleeve.  
  
"Are you sure it's him?" Sirius said.  
  
"I don't know who else it could be!" She faltered. "Well, I guess I could just be imagining it."  
  
James shuddered. "All the same, I don't like the idea of being near anyone who can trap me in a mirror if he wants to. We'll check it out tomorrow at breakfast."  
  
Peter, Remus, and Juno stared in confusion. "Who's Perry Miffleby?"  
  
"Long story, we'll get to it later. But for now, all you've got to know is that he's out for Lily's blood."  
  
That alone raised a chill on Lily's arms. Peter yawned. "Who isn't?"  
  
"Shut up, Peter!" she exploded.  
  
Peter stopped mid-yawn and goggled at her. At first she didn't realize what she had done, but then her heart pounded in her ears. "Peter." she mumbled in shock.  
  
"What?" he said nervously.  
  
How could she say his name? The curse, the curse! Was it broken? She pointed at him and tried to say it again. "P…p…"  
  
"Um, Lily?" Remus raised his eyebrows at her. "What are you doing?"  
  
The name was swallowing itself back down her throat. It wasn't coming out again. The same old shadow that she remembered so well passed over his face. She had forgotten the effect the shadow had on her. Fear shot through her body. "Nothing. Never mind. But it's Perry Miffleby."  
  
"How can we tell for sure?"  
  
Suddenly, Kipper came flying (literally) into the common room as a very frightened-looking pair of overalls. "Board up the doors! Lock me into a room! Get me the Queen! Get me Scotland Yard! Get me a good stiff drink! HELP!!!!" The overalls leaped into Lily's arms like a damsel in distress. "HE'S HERE! PERRY TAPDANCING MIFFLEBY IS HERE!!!!"  
  
"Tapdancing?" Lily said, bewildered.  
  
"It's an expletive I made up," he explained, turning into a pogo stick and jumping in frantic circles. "He's here he's here he's here he's here!"  
  
She stood with her hands on her hips and faced James and Sirius. "How's that for proof?"  
  


  
  


Professor McGonagall stormed into the boys' dormitory. "Black. Front and center, if you please."  
  
He rolled out of bed slowly. "Should I get my 'I-didn't-do-its' over with right now?"  
  
"Skip them altogether. You have Bloister's Blizzard Bombs, correct?"  
  
Sirius's jaw dropped. "Who told you?" he said indignantly.  
  
"Never mind that," she snapped. "Bring them here now."  
  
Sirius crouched down, muttering, and took a large blue-and-white package from under his bed. He hugged it to his chest. "Okay. They're here. Now go away please."  
  
"Mr. Black, give them to me!"  
  
"But…but we're in love," he said, kissing the package. "We had plans. Big plans for the future. We were going to get married and have a bunch of little explosions."  
  
"NOW!"  
  
"Okay, okay." Sirius shoved the bombs towards her.  
  
She received them dubiously. "Are there any more?"  
  
"No."  
  
"I'm going to pretend I believe you." McGonagall turned on her heel and marched down the stairs.  
  
"Stupid old witch," he muttered.  
  
"Pretty much applies to every teacher here, Sirius," James yawned.  
  


Lily did her best to never be alone now. Not with Professor 'Montgomery' walking the halls. It was easy - if nobody else would stay with her, then she could ask James. But one night, something went wrong.  
  
She was up late in the common room doing her homework with Peter, Juno, and Remus. Peter was in an armchair near the portrait hole, Remus and Juno were on the couch next to Lily. They were concentrating more on each other than on their homework, though.  
  
"You look so cute when you make a face like you don't know the answer," Juno said drippily.  
  
"You're cuter when you're telling me what the answer is," Remus said every bit as drippily.  
  
"Oh, please," Lily scoffed as they fell to kissing. "If I ever acted like that with James, you'd skin me alive," she said to the back of Juno's head. As she turned back to her homework, she suddenly noticed that her black bracelet was missing. She remembered it being on her wrist during Transfiguration, her last class of the day, so it was either in the corridors somewhere or in the Great Hall. "Juno, come on, I've got to go find my bracelet." No response. "Juno, please?"  
  
Juno giggled as Remus kissed her neck. "Go alone, you'll be fine!" Then she went back to kissing her boyfriend.  
  
"All right, all right." She made her way towards the portrait hole with her wand at the ready. She swung the portrait out and had one leg in the corridor when suddenly, she heard the one voice she didn't want to hear.  
  
"I'll go with you, Lily."  
  
Peter was right behind her. "Thanks," she said with disgust. The curse was getting patchy again. Her tone, but not her words could betray the truth.  
  
"After all, you're not safe if Perry Miffleby is really here." They were alone now, and his voice was taunting again. "And he is, Lily. It's him. This plan has been in the works for almost a year."  
  
"What plan?" Lily kept her eyes down, looking for her bracelet.  
  
"This plan. The plan that's finally going to get you out of our way. It's very simple. We play Miffleby against you, give him the chance he's always wanted to get his vengeance, and two very important things happen. One," he held up one finger. "We get his undying loyalty. He'll never defect if we give him what he wants now. And two," he held up two fingers, then used both of them to tilt her face around so that she was looking him straight in the eye. "Two, we never have to deal with you again. Your big mouth, your stubbornness, your ugly little habit of sticking your nose where it doesn't belong -"  
  
"My power," she said defiantly. "You-know-who is afraid of me, go on, say it."  
  
"But you're even more afraid of him. Or else you'd say his name like you used to." Peter let her face go and smiled. She didn't move. "Go on, find your bracelet. An owl delivered it to you, didn't it?"  
  
"How did you know that?"  
  
"Didn't you ever wonder where it came from? What it was for? Lily, that bracelet has been helping us keep track of you, helping us keep you in trouble, for as long as you've worn it."  
  
She froze, then whirled around and started walking back to the common room.  
  
"And where do you think you're going?" he said, a menacing timbre in his voice. He grabbed her arm and pushed her against a wall.  
  
"I'm not about to recover a bracelet that's keeping me linked with You-Know-Who!"  
  
"Oh, yes you are. And if you don't, then I will. I'll give it back to you like a good friend, in front of everyone, so you can't very well refuse it."  
  
"Not if I tell them what's going on! Not if I tell them that you…" she tried to force it loose. She was going to say it.  
  
His hand went to her throat. "I'll kill you if you say it!"  
  
"How will that look, Peter?" she gasped out. "You can't touch me. You- Know-Who's been stopping you, hasn't he? It'll mess up the plan." His grip loosened, but the fire remained in his watery blue eyes. "You just said that Miffleby wants to kill me, and that's how You-Know-Who is earning his loyalty. What if you kill me? Then You-Know-Who will lose Miffleby. He'll be angry, Wormtail. He'll kill you then."  
  
"You…you…"  
  
"Think about it! All this has happened - you're out of favor now. And it's all because you...you...you killed Chantel!" Lily's voice echoed throughout the corridor. Peter stumbled back as though the words had been a spell. "You killed her! I saw you do it!"  
  
"You didn't! You can't!" He put his hands over his ears.  
  
She kept saying it, louder and louder. "Peter, you killed Chantel! You killed Chantel! And then you put a curse on me to keep me quiet, then you kept attacking me, and you made You-Know-Who kill Amelia! You're a murderer! YOU KILLED CHANTEL, PETER!!!"  
  
"SHUT UP!!" he roared, advancing on her with his wand. Then he hit her across the face, hard, and said the same words that he'd said so long ago when he had murdered Chantel in the common room. "You may know, but you'll never tell!"  
  
Then, exactly like that fateful night, the world seemed to collapse, and leave her in blackness.  
  


Footsteps woke her up. Footsteps, then a whispering voice. "Come here, Snape!"  
  
Lily's cheek hurt where Peter had struck her. She opened her eyes warily, just in time to see a black robe disappear around the corner.  
  
"What is it now?"  
  
"You have detention tomorrow, do you not?"  
  
Lily hastily looked for a place to hide. It was Perry's voice. But what was he doing talking to Severus Snape at this hour?  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You fool!"  
  
"What? Just because I follow Lord Voldemort, do I have to be a model student?" There was a note of panic in his voice, as though he knew exactly what was wrong, but was trying to deny it.  
  
"What do you have detention for?"  
  
"For setting up a prank…"  
  
"A prank."  
  
"Yes, a prank, is that so terrible?"  
  
"That prank was to be blamed on her."  
  
"That's not true. This one wasn't for Evans, it was for Black."  
  
"Then you're doubly a fool. You've lost sight of the goal, Snape. We are not interested in settling your schoolboy grudges. We are interested in eliminating her."  
  
Lily almost wished they would say her name outright.  
  
Miffleby continued. "Get it right this time. It's our last chance to be rid of her before the summer."  
  
"I have just the idea. It will get rid of her, but it will be blamed on Black, and perhaps even Potter."  
  
"Let us discuss it in the Chamber."  
  
"Fine, fine, but listen, all I have to do is-"  
  
Click. The door closed behind them as they entered a classroom. Lily was left completely clueless in the middle of the sentence. What was he planning? When was he going to do whatever it was he was going to do? And how could he frame Sirius for it?  
  
She made her way quickly back to the dormitories and lay awake in bed. There was no way she was going to sleep that night, so she just let her thoughts chase each other around in circles, pausing only to try to say "Peter." Not once did it work.  
  


Three days later, the Friday before exam week, there was a ball. There were obviously mixed opinions about the timing of it. Lily almost panicked and didn't go, because there was so much studying to be done. James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter were so excited they could have cried. "This is a well-deserved break," Remus explained as they entered the Great Hall.  
  
"That's because you're lazy," Juno said with her customary 'I-know-everything-about-everyone' sort of tone.  
  
"I'm not lazy, I just know what I deserve. At least they didn't schedule it for the Friday after the exams."  
  
"What's so bad about that?" said Juno, adjusting her black-and-white dress robes. Nobody was sure, but rumor had it that she had a flask of butterbeer strapped to her thigh.  
  
"Full moon," he said carelessly.  
  
She looked at him inquisitively. Lily suddenly remembered, and apparently, so did Remus, that Juno did not know that he was a werewolf. "Well," he said, covering his tracks, "Everyone acts crazy during the full moon. And everyone acts crazy when they're at a ball. So…erm…too much crazy."  
  
"Speaking of too much crazy," Lily said quickly, gesturing towards Sirius, who had just grabbed Vanessa LeFarge from her date and was dancing with her.  
  
"What does he think he's doing?" James said.  
  
"Egging Elric on. Vanessa complains to Elric, Elric tries to pound Sirius, Sirius has an excuse for making a mess of Elric. Very simple, really," Remus laughed.  
  
Sirius kept glancing over at the Ravenclaw table, where Elric was talking loudly and without pausing for breath. At first, Vanessa had looked furious at him, but she'd cooled down somewhat, and was actually laughing at some of his obnoxious attempts to make her angry. Then, his actions became less incendiary and more flirtatious. It was a fascinating thing to see play out.  
  
"Are you Lily Evans?"  
  
Lily turned and saw a third-year girl in pink dress robes looking up at her with dark brown eyes. Her hair was the same color - dark brown curls falling to her shoulders, which the liberally cut dress robes revealed to be very tanned. "I'm Aurelle. Aurelle Bobbins. Dumbledore said that you're staying with my family this summer!"  
  
"Oh, that's right, he told me about you." Lily shook her hand.  
  
"He did? What did he say?"  
  
"Nothing, just that you were a third-year Hufflepuff."  
  
"Oh. Well, that's okay, then. We're going to have so much fun this summer. I'm a half-blood, you know. My mum's a Muggle. She's really good about wizards and things, though. She knew about my dad before they were even married, so that tells you something right there. Are you full-blood, or half-blood, or what?"  
  
Lily smiled. Aurelle reminded her something of Amelia. "I'm Muggle-born, actually."  
  
"Wow! That's great. You'll get along with my mum really well. I've got two little brothers, but they aren't old enough to go to Hogwarts yet." She seemed eager to impress Lily, or at least to dump all the information she could onto her. "I just thought you'd want to know who I am and all that. So, see you around!"  
  
"'Bye!" Lily watched her float back to the Hufflepuff table. "She seems friendly, doesn't she?"  
  
Peter laughed. "That's not friendly." He pointed out onto the dance floor, where Sirius and Vanessa were chatting amiably as they waltzed as if they had come to the dance together. Sirius's arm was all the way around her waist, holding her close enough to start a scandal. "That's friendly."  
  
"Come on, Lil," James said, leading her onto the dance floor, "Let's investigate."  
  
After a few dances where they were nowhere near Sirius and Vanessa, it was apparent that James didn't want to 'investigate' anything. "What's wrong?" Lily said.  
  
"I…I'm going to miss you this summer, that's all."  
  
"It's just ten minutes away." He was silent, abashed. Partially to make him feel better and partially because it was true, she added, "I'm going to miss you, too."  
  
The music slowed down, and all the couples were dancing a little bit more closely. However, Sirius and Vanessa remained frighteningly close, even more so than before, if it was possible. This Lily saw over James's shoulder. Then, they turned around slowly with the song, and she saw Severus standing at the door of the Great Hall. His wand was pointed at one of the chairs at the Slytherin table, and he was saying something under his breath.  
  
Several things happened in rapid succession. First, Professor 'Montgomery' strode gruffly to Vanessa and Sirius and pushed them apart. "That is no way for two Hogwarts students to-"  
  
Then Elric interrupted him by materializing and shoving Sirius into the Slytherin table. "What do you think you're doing with my sister, Black?" he growled.  
  
"Shut up, Elric, we were just-" Vanessa began.  
  
Suddenly, there was an explosion. Crash! With a sound like ice breaking, Sirius, Elric, Vanessa, and Professor Miffleby were all thrown across the room, and a cold gust of wind filled the Great Hall. Snow and sleet and hail started flying everywhere. Lily just barely saw Snape run away. "James, did you-"  
  
"SIRIUS!" James bellowed. "YOUR STUPID EXPLOSIVES!!!"  
  
Professor McGonagall ran by, holding her hat tightly to her head. "Mr. Black, fifty points from Gryffindor! Detention, do you hear me? Detention!"  
  
Ice rained down all around them as everyone, with the exception of Lily, Juno, James, Remus, Peter, and the teachers, ran for the doors. Then there was a shriek. "PROFESSOR MONTGOMERY, WAKE UP!!!"  
  
As the wind calmed and the effects of the Bloister's Blizzard Bomb wore off, Lily saw the wreck that had come to be near the corner of the Slytherin table. Through a gentle flurry, she saw Sirius standing unsteadily, supported by Professor McGonagall, holding a bit of tablecloth to his head. The blood was already soaking through the fabric. Elric's robes were torn up, and there was ice caked on his carpetlike black hair. Vanessa was shaking Perry Miffleby, slapping him, yelling at him. "Wake up, Professor!" There was a stream of blood running from under his hairline, and he was quite pale.  
  
Juno hurried over and took the hysterical Vanessa by the shoulders. "Come on, Vanessa," she mumbled.  
  
Vanessa dissolved into sobs, hugging her rival. "He's dead! He's dead!"  
  
"Shh, don't say that!" Juno held Vanessa's face away from where Perry was being examined by the other teachers.  
  
Sirius stumbled forward and tried to calm Vanessa down. "It's okay-"  
  
"That was your bomb!" she screamed. "You did that!"  
  
"No!" Sirius slurred. His tongue wasn't working right after his flight across the room. "I didn't! D'you think I…"He trailed off and let McGonagall lead him out.  
  
Peter looked furious. Remus looked shocked. James and Lily weren't sure how to look. She saw all the teachers giving Hagrid a wide berth as he proceeded wordlessly with Perry in his arms, Dumbledore close behind him.  
  
"Professor, is he…"  
  
"There was a time, Miss Evans, when I would have told a half-truth to spare your feelings. You are now old enough for me to be blunt and tell you that Professor Montgomery was killed in that explosion."  
  
  


**_A/N:_** _Hey, it's us again. Pretty interesting, eh? It would've been even more interesting, but ff.net for some reason wouldn't let all our "dot dot dots" through. Rather troublesome, that. We're dot dot dot psychos. Please review, and RIP Perry Miffleby. I mean, he was evil, but he still kinda deserves an RIP, right? No? Okay.___


	72. A Leak

**_A/N: _**Hey.  Don't wanna hear any complaints.  This is only about two months, and it was almost TWICE that last time.  Anyway, yeah, Mifflebey's finally kicked the bucket…and in case you forgot who Mifflebey was in the first place, go back to chapters 48-52 for an explanation of his evil deeds and such.  Ok?  Ok. 

By the way, for the past ten chapters, we've had kind of an outline, a written plan for what the heck we were doing on the Lily timeline.  Well…we just finished with everything that was supposed to happen on the outline.  *whimper*  Sorry if this chapter is kind of lame.  We're floundering.  

**_Lily_**

**_Chapter 72_**

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After a sleepless night, Lily and her friends went to the hospital wing to check on Sirius.  Instead, they saw several beds occupied by other students.  

"They claim that they got frostbite from the blizzard at the ball last night," Madam Pomfrey explained upon seeing their confused faces.  "I couldn't very well tell the ninnies that they were perfectly fine.  It's not as though they're missing classes for it." 

"Where's Sirius?" James said.  

Madam Pomfrey looked around cautiously and leaned in.  "Listen, everyone here knows that he set off that bomb.  And they aren't too happy about it, either, especially those of them that know what happened to poor Professor Montgomery." 

Lily and James exchanged a look.  

"So we had to move him to an empty classroom," she continued.  "If you want to see him, knock three times on the door next to the Defense Against the Dark Arts room.  A face will appear in it and ask you for the password.  It's 'hydrangea.'  But don't say anything else, or the face will spit at you, laugh, and disappear.  Okay?" 

So they thanked Madam Pomfrey and went to the room she had told them about.  When they entered, it looked like a miniature Infirmary.  Sirius was sitting up in a bed with his head heavily bandaged.  He was groaning artistically.  "Aooowwwhhhhhhhmmmmm!  Uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!   GRRRRRRRRRRRRAAahhhhhhh!" 

"Sirius, what are you _doing?_" James yelled, his hands over his ears.  

He stopped and took notice of the five people who had just entered.  "Hi, everyone!  Good to see you.  I was getting bored."

"You were getting bored?"

"Yes.  I decided to see how many different ways I could groan.  It's kind of a fun pastime.  Like the Whiny groan – Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmuuhhhh!  Or the Angry groan – GAHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-uh.  Or my personal favorite, the Everyone-thinks-I-killed-a-teacher-who-isn't-really-a-teacher-so-he-deserved-what-he-got-but-I-didn't-do-it groan-"

"We get the point," Lily interrupted.  

"You're in it deep, Sirius," Remus said gravely.  "I don't know what they're going to do." 

Sirius grew haughty.  "_Do?  My dear fellow, they aren't going to _do_ anything!  They happen to know that I am perfectly innocent!" _

"You can tell us the truth," Juno snapped.  

Lily sat down on a desk.  "It _is _the truth.  I saw Snape set off the bombs." 

"Well, how do you plan on convincing Dumbledore and McGonagall?  I'd bet a hundred Galleons Snape's got his slimy little friends on hand to say he was in the Common Room the whole time, studying like a good little prat." 

"I've already convinced them," Sirius said, batting an end of bandage out of his eyes.  "They were in here earlier, and I started to say I didn't do it, but Dumbledore stopped me and said they already knew I was innocent.  He said they knew Bloister's Blizzard Bombs are wand-activated, and I was fighting with Elric, so my hands weren't anywhere near my wand.  And even if I had just been a distraction for someone else setting them off, I would've known to stay away from the explosion.  They said that since I got hurt, it's obvious that I didn't do it."  He stretched and grinned.  "Pretty good, eh?  I've gotta remember that." 

"You're not going to explode anything anytime soon, are you?" Lily said disapprovingly. 

Sirius tugged at his bandage.  "Nah…not _too soon." _

"Where is Remus?"  Juno said suddenly at dinner a week later.  It was the Friday after exams, and above them in the charmed ceiling of the Great Hall, the moon shone like a pale Sickle.  

Sirius, James, and Peter played it perfectly cool.  "I think he's visiting his mum," James said.  

"His mum?  Why? What's wrong with his mum?"  

Peter shrugged.  "Pregnant or something, I dunno." 

"Oh, please," Juno scoffed.  "Mrs. Lupin's too old for that."

"Hey, stranger things have happened." 

"Sirius, she's an old hag and you know it.  I know it.  _Remus _knows it.  So what's wrong with her?" 

Suddenly, Snape appeared in the midst of the conversation.  "Don't worry about Lupin's mum.  She's fine.  It's her pup you'd better be concerned about," he said, grinning nastily.  

"Remus?  Why?" Juno looked weakened and angry at the same time.  "What did you do with him, Snape?" 

"Oh, I haven't done anything.  Worry about what _he's doing." _

"Would you shut it?" Lily hissed.  "Ruddy murderer." 

Snape froze and turned his black eyes on Lily.  "I don't know what you're talking about, Evans.  I was in my dormitory last week. I was sick."

"You're sick all right," James said.  

"I'm not sure why you're so hostile anyway.  After all, if your accusations were at all correct, then-"

"They're correct! I saw you set off the explosives!" 

He hit the table sharply with his fist, then said very quietly, "If you're so sure, then why are you getting on my bad side?  Once a murderer…" There was silence.  Snape got up to leave, looking angry instead of sour.  "Your boyfriend's in the Shrieking Shack.  Changing," he said to Juno.  

Juno looked around at the others.  "What did he mean, 'changing'?"  No answer.  Lily bit her lip and felt the secret tossing around in her stomach.  "Lil?" Juno's eyes were pleading. "Why's he in the Shrieking Shack?" 

The next day on the train platform, Juno was keeping close to Lily and James.  Sirius, Remus, and Peter walked a few paces behind, taking inventory of all the pranks they had played throughout the year as they pulled along their trunks.  The train ride home was odd.  Where before, Juno and Remus had been shamelessly snogging at a moment's notice, now Juno seemed to pull away slightly every time Remus reached for her hand.  Lily could feel the awkwardness heavy in the air.  

When they disembarked, Lily looked around for the Bobbinses.  It didn't take long.  "Lily!  Lily, we're over here!"  Aurelle was saying, waving enthusiastically.  There was Aurelle, her mother, her father…and her nine brothers.  

"Oh…my…goodness…" Lily said, grabbing James's hand and recounting just to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.  

Mrs. Bobbins, who Aurelle resembled closely, was smiling.  "It's very nice to meet you, Lily.  This is the family…a little extensive, I know, but we're really quite pleasant." 

"Aurelle, I thought you said you only had two brothers!"  Lily said weakly.  

"No no no, I said I had two _little_ brothers.  Matt and Louis are nine and three," she said, pointing out two round-faced little boys.  "But Chris is thirty-seven, Will is thirty-four, Alex is thirty-one, Donald's thirty, Ryan's twenty-eight, Aric's twenty-five, and Jake is twenty-five too.  They're twins, even though they don't really look it."  

Lily shook hands with each of them in turn.  "Do…er…do all of you live at home?" 

"We're teachers," Will explained.  Will had light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a Beater's nose.  "We've got the summers off, so we bring our families round to visit during July." 

"All of you are teachers?" Lily said incredulously.  

Chris nodded his curly head and scratched at his goatee.  "I have an art gallery, too, but I do teach.  Except Aurelle, Matt, and Louis, there's not a Bobbins who's not a teacher." 

"And all of you have families?" James said.  

A general ripple of laughter went up.  "I've got six kids!" Alex said.  Alex was tall and skinny, with dark brown eyes and hair.  

"I'm single, but I do plan to take over the world," Donald said.  There was a pause, then he laughed.  "I'm kidding.  The world-domination thing is just a retirement plan."  He looked like a heavier version of Will.  

Ryan's hair was much more auburn than any of his brothers', and he actually had freckles.  "Here, let me get that trunk for you." 

"I've never really had brothers before," Lily said to Aurelle.  

"They're pretty great for the most part," Aurelle said.  "Except Jake." 

The Bobbins boys had begun to talk amongst themselves, leaving Lily, Aurelle, and James to converse on their own.  "What's the matter with Jake?"  James asked.  

"He's just an idiot.  Barely graduated Hogwarts.  He's loveable, though.  A loveable idiot."  

As if to illustrate her point, Jake, tall, lanky, and round-faced as a lollipop, came over and waved absently at Lily.  "H'lo…can I carry anything for you?  Like, y'know…dress?" 

"Er…no, my dresses are in my trunk."  Lily grinned, but James and Aurelle were holding back laughter.  

"Right."  He ran a hand through his light brown hair.  "I teach kindergarten, y'know.  My class this year was a lot of fun…all they wanted to do was make hand turkeys.  Really perfected my technique." 

Aric called to his twin.  "Oi, Jake, move it along, we're going to find a fireplace to Floo it out of here." 

"Coming!"  Jake yelled as he walked away.  "C'mon, you two." 

"All right, let's go, Lily," Aurelle said.  

Lily started to follow, but James caught her hand and pulled her back.  "Don't tell me you forgot I was here," he joked. 

"Er…no?" 

James laughed, then his smile faded.  He hugged her close.  "This is going to be the longest I've gone without seeing you since I don't know when." 

"I know.  But don't worry, it's-"

"Just ten minutes' walk away, I know, I know…it's not the same, though." 

"Yeah."  

He kissed her.  "I'll miss you." 

"I'll miss you too.  Write to me, okay?"  

"Okay."  

"Bye."  As Lily followed Aurelle to the platform barrier, she caught sight of Juno out of the corner of her eye.  Her first instinct was to wave, but then she saw that Remus was approaching Juno.  He started talking, but her answers were short.  She avoided his eyes.  Then he moved to put his hands on her arms.  She tensed.  He started to kiss her, but she pulled away quickly and said a hasty good-bye.  Remus watched her walking away, looking confused and upset.  Guilt twisted around Lily's heart, and she walked through the barrier towards a summer where she hoped she wouldn't have to deal with that situation.  


	73. Transformations

A/N: First of all, we would like to apologize. We once promised that we'd never go four months without posting EVER AGAIN. I believe we've exceeded that. With flying colors.

Second of all, we'd like to apologize again, because we've realized that this is over. The story that was such a huge part of our minds suddenly didn't seem to fit in. Somehow, it diminished in importance to us, and we didn't even mention it for a long time. Then, Clara turned to Ariana and said out of the blue, "We're never going to finish it, are we?" To which Ariana replied, "No, I don't think so." And with that, it was sealed.

"Lily," formerly known as "The Lily Series," is over. Thank you to all our readers who have so faithfully put up with our delays and caprices. You've made every moment (snort hour) of writer's block well worth the while.

We have, you may remember, already written the last chapter… it was made to fit right after L&J's death and Sirius's subsequent arrest. The specific time, as you'll see explained here, is not well-defined, but it's told from Sirius's point of view inside his Azkaban cell.

Thanks again, everyone. :O)

Lily

Last Chapter - "Transformations"

No chains   
No strait jacket   
Nothing but the cell   
And the dementors.   
  
The dementors.   
They don't need chains   
They don't even need the cell   
They could keep anyone in one place   
Totally dead with fear of themselves.   
  
When they come by   
Easier to be mad   
Easier to be crazy   
Than to listen to the fear   
The screaming from the past   
The owl fluttering through the window   
The big brown owl holding an envelope   
And the letter   
Dear Mr. Black   
We regret to inform you...   
Your father   
Mother   
And sister   
are all dead.   
  
I wish I had been too.   
  
The dementor went past again   
But I don't feel any better   
  
How long ago did I get here?   
Days?   
Weeks?   
Months?   
Years maybe.   
Feels like it.   
Where is here?   
A tundra?   
So cold.   
An ocean maybe.   
I feel like I'm drowning   
Drowning in fear   
And horrible memories   
  
Another one!   
  
Running down the stairs   
Into the common room   
Something's wrong   
What's that in the middle of the floor?   
Chantel!   
She's dead!   
  
NO!   
  
Who killed her?   
Lily!   
No!   
It was someone else   
But who?   
Lily never said!   
Lily couldn't say!   
No matter   
She's dead now too.   
With Chantel   
  
More than I can say for me.   
  
The dementor's gone now   
Feel better?   
I feel worse.   
Lily's dead   
So James is dead.   
Lily and James are dead   
Is that why I'm here?   
Did I kill them?   
No   
I killed Peter.   
  
Wait.   
  
No I didn't.   
  
The fog's starting to lift.   
I'm in Azkaban.   
  
Peter's the rat.   
He isn't dead.   
Everyone is dead but Peter.   
And Remus.   
But Peter is the one who got me here.   
Peter cut off his finger and ran away.   
Peter's alive.   
I didn't kill Peter.   
But I'm here because I killed Peter.   
If Peter isn't dead...   
  
I am innocent.   
  
I **DID NOT** kill anyone.   
  
It is NOT my fault that Lily and James are dead.   
  
That was Peter.


End file.
